


Don't Dream It's Over

by commander_hearteyes23



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2019-12-29 18:09:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18299438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/commander_hearteyes23/pseuds/commander_hearteyes23
Summary: Set after Josie confesses that she had had a crush on Hope in the past. A bit of a slow burn, some things happen, someone goes missing, there's another road trip, triad sucks, and someone ends up in the Malivore pit. But not the person you're expecting. I'm sorry I suck at summaries. But I hope you enjoy!!





	1. Missing

(Josie POV)

It had been quiet since Hope had left. Josie really had no idea what to say to her sister. She knew she had made a mistake. But in her defense, it was like forever ago and she was young. Not that it excused her behavior.

"I'm sorry Jo." Lizzie finally spoke.

Josie was surprised and a little speechless. Why was Lizzie apologizing?

"I'm sorry that I made you feel like you had to lie and hide out of fear. I think that I subconsciously knew what I was doing. If I notice that you're interested in someone or if someone is interested in you, I step in because I don't want to lose you. That's not okay and I am so sorry." Lizzie confessed.

Josie was surprised. Lizzie had never been this up front about anything like this. She had this whole "never apologize" thing. "I know what I did and I'm sorry too."

Lizzie was so quiet, it seemed like she wanted Josie to keep talking. So she did. "I just... I just, it was all over a stupid little crush. It's so stupid. Like I couldn't risk losing another person to you. And I was too scared to bring it up to you over the years, for fear of how you'd react. It shouldn't have to be like that Lizzie. You're my sister Lizzie, and I should be able to talk to you about stuff like that without fear that you'll swoop in. I want to be able to talk to you about crushes I have, or whatever." Josie vented.

"You're right and I'm sorry. We should be able to talk about this stuff. I'll get better. I'll be better." Lizzie replied.

"So we're okay? You're not mad?" Josie asked.

"I'm a little upset. I mean I thought Hope had been making fun of me and spreading rumors about my episode. But I do forgive you. I've done my fair share of things that I'm not proud of. You're my sister, my twin. And I will always love you, and I'd forgive you anything." Lizzie replied.

Josie got up and hugged her sister. "No more secrets. And no more crush stealing." they both laughed.

Josie walked over to shut off the light and climbed into her bed. Josie was just about to fall asleep when Lizzie asked her the question Josie prayed her sister wouldn't ask. "So, do you still have a crush on Hope?"

Josie held her breath and pretended to be asleep. It's not that she didn't want to answer her sister, she just didn't really know the answer. After everything, Josie genuinely didn't know how she felt.

Sleep did not come easy for Josie that night. All that she could think about was the look on Hope's face when she realized that Josie was the one who started the rumor that Hope was talking about Lizzie's episode, and making fun of her.

Hope looked absolutely devastated and it nearly broke Josie's heart. Then after telling Hope she started the fire that destroyed the only painting she and her father made together, Josie thought Hope would hate her forever. 

But then again, after Josie had admitted that she had a crush on Hope, her whole demeanor changed. Like out of everything Josie said, the only thing Hope latched onto was the crush. Which surprised Josie. They had shared some kind of moment and Josie had no idea what it meant. Did Hope hate her? Was she angry with her? Was she making fun of her for a stupid crush she had when she was younger? Josie had no idea and it was driving her crazy.

What was going to happen now? She couldn't lose her friend, she wouldn't.

(Hope POV)

The next morning when Hope wakes p, she doesn't even want to get out of bed. She is still so very confused about everything that had happened the night before.

When Hope had gone to the twins' room the night before, the last thing she had expected to hear was that Josie had been the one to set the fire in her room. And the crush? What was that about?

Like a part of her was extremely pissed off at her friend. She drove a wedge between Lizzie and herself, and Hope was really hurt by it. But then again, there was this whole other part of herself that was actually really flattered by Josie's crush on her. Like even after the whole confession, Hope could only focus on the damn crush. Like what even was that?

The moment she had with Josie, if you could even call it a moment, was also unexpected. Hope couldn't stop smiling at the younger girl. And after a few minutes of silence all Hope could say was, "I think I'll let the two of you talk." then dipped out, like okay bye.

It was all so confusing. It was no wonder why Lizzie had hated Hope so much. When Lizzie had indicated that Josie was the one who started the rumor, Hope felt her stomach drop. She didn't know why, but it literally felt like her heart was being ripped out of her chest.

On top of everything else that was going on, Hope felt like she was going crazy. There was a weird rift thing going on between Rafael and Landon, plus all of the crap going on with Malivore and finding out what and where the last key is. There was just so much going on in her life and she felt like it was all just resting on her shoulders. 

Hope decided to take a walk down by the lake, just to get some air and hopefully calm down a bit. She sat on the dock and dangled her feet in the water.

It's quiet for a while but then Hope hears footsteps behind her. "Hey." It was Lizzie.

"Hey." Hope replies.

Lizzie sat down next to Hope and it's quiet for a moment. "So I..." both girls start at the same time. "Sorry, you go." they start again.

Both girls start laughing. Hope can't help but think how well this is going. They get quiet again and stare out over the lake. 

Hope speaks first. "I'm sorry."

"Me too." Lizzie replies.

Hope actually found it kind of nice. Sitting on the dock with Lizzie Saltzman and neither of them at each others throats. Hope's looking at the ripples on the water when Lizzie speaks again. "Don't be mad a Josie."

"Why not?" Hope asked, curious.

"Are you mad at her?" Lizzie avoids Hope's question.

Hope was a little taken aback that Lizzie asked a question that she genuinely seemed to want the answer to. It's surprising. "You actually care?"

Lizzie almost has a smile on her face. "I guess I deserved that. But to answer your question, yes I do care. I know I keep saying that 'I'm turning over a new leaf' or whatever, but I am seriously trying. I have a lot of things to work on, and I'm sure I'll screw up. But I'm trying. I genuinely care about everything going on with you and I want you to know that you can talk to me about anything."

Hope looked that the other girl. "Well okay, but you asked for it. First, no I'm not angry with Josie. Disappointed, a little. But angry, no. I get where she was coming from, no offense. I am so stressed out because of all of this Malivore shit, and..." Hope stopped. She didn't know if she should tell Lizzie much more. 

It seemed like Lizzie understood why Hope paused. "It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything that you don't want to. I understand."

Hope sighed. "Fuck it." She said surprising both Lizzie and herself. "Okay so at the talent show Rafael had some spoken word poetry that sounded like he had a thing for me. Then he said it was just because of the slug or whatever. But him and Landon seem weird now. Raf avoids me pretty regularly and Landon has been acting off. It worries me because we don't even really know what Landon is. You can NOT repeat this, the only other person who even knows about it is your father. I trust you. So when we went to find Landon, he wasn't alone. He was with his biological mother Seylah, who he doesn't remember anymore because she hopped into the Malivore pit and everyone forgot about her. But me apparently. Before that, she told me that she had been in Malivore before and that when she came out, she was pregnant. With Landon. So what even is he? He has to be some kind of supernatural, right? Also, he knows nothing about any of this and I'm too afraid to tell him. And that's also driving a wedge between us. And I've had nobody to talk to about all this and I am just stressed out all of the time and I honestly have no idea what I'm doing anymore." Hope vented, getting everything out in the open.

Hope looked over at Lizzie whose mouth was hanging open. She was in shock. "Holy. Shit. This is seriously what you've been going through?!"

(Josie POV)

Josie woke up and the first thing she noticed was that Lizzie was gone. Where was she? After their talk last night, Josie thought that they were okay. Maybe she was wrong. She needed to find her sister.

Josie quickly got dressed and headed downstairs to look for her sister. She only made in to the bottom of the steps before she spotted Penelope standing in front of the door talking to one of the other witches.

Josie kept her head down and prayed Penelope wouldn't see her. "Hey Jojo." Josie sighed. Of course. "where are you running off to in such a hurry?"

"Not that it concerns you, but I'm looking for Lizzie." Josie replied.

Penelope rolled her eyes. "Why does that not surprise me?"

"I am not in the mood to deal with your snarky comments. So if you don't know where my sister is, then get the hell out of my way." Josie stated forcefully.

Penelope had a mixture of surprise and arousal on her face. "I think I saw her heading out by the lake not too long ago."

Josie mumbles a thank you as she walked away from her ex-girlfriend. On her way down to the lake, all Josie could think about was Lizzie... and Hope, and everything that had happened the night before. She knew that she had messed up royally. But it really seemed like Lizzie had forgiven her, or was at least starting to.

She heard Lizzie's laugh before she saw her. Who was she with? Josie hurried to the source of her sisters laughter. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the two girls sitting on the end of the deck, laughing with each other.

It was like her heart stopped. Josie didn't know what she was feeling, or why she was feeling that way.

Josie turned to run back to the school as fast as she could.

So Lizzie and Hope were best friends now? Is that what was happening? Were they both so mad at her that they were just going to shut her out now?

A million thoughts raced through Josie's head as she ran back to the school. She was so caught up in the thoughts racing that she didn't see MG in front of her. 

Josie hit the ground hard after running straight into her friend. "Ow." she grabbed her head.

"Oh my God Josie! Are you okay?" MG asked, helping Josie up off of the ground.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?? You looked really deep into thought as you slammed full force into me." he tried to make a joke.

"Look MG, I said I was fine and that means that I'm fine. I'm sorry I ran into you, but I need to be somewhere. Anywhere but here." Josie snapped.

MG made a face. "Um, okay. Do you know where Lizzie is?"

Josie pointed down to the lake where she last saw Hope and Lizzie. Then turned and headed back inside, where she fully intended on hiding in her room for the rest of her life.

When she got to her room Josie grabbed her headphones and plugged them into her phone. She laid on her bed and closed her eyes. She had done this to herself. she should have never had written that stupid letter to Hope in the first place. 

All of this was because of some stupid crush. Josie had now driven away two of the people she cared about most, all because of a dumb crush she had like a hundred years ago.

Josie was so caught up in her thoughts, yet again, that she didn't hear Hope enter her room. Or call her name. Twice.

She did feel a finger tap her shoulder, scaring the living daylights out of her. Josie jumped so hard that she nearly flailed herself right out of her bed. "What the hell?!" Josie yelled when she realized it was Hope.

Hope tried to hold back a laugh, but failed. Which did nothing but piss Josie off more. "What are you doing in here? What do you want?"

Hope's smile quickly faded. "I uh... I came here to talk to you." she replied.

"Why don't you go talk to your new best friend Lizzie." Josie shot back, surprising even herself.

Hope made a face and stepped closer to Josie. "Look, MG said that you were acting really strange and he felt like something was going on with you. Lizzie was on her way up here, but I asked her to let me come up here instead."

Maybe Josie was overreacting. "Why would you do that?"

Hope sat down on Josie's bed. "Well we didn't really get a chance to talk after last night. And I felt like we needed to."

Josie sighed. "I'm sorry. You have every reason to hate me."

"I don't hate you Jo." Josie looked up at Hope. "I'm just a little confused, I mean I understand why you did what you did. To an extent. Lizzie hated me all of these years, for nothing."

It was quiet for a moment.

"Why didn't you just tell me about the crush Jo? I get the whole Lizzie thing, but why couldn't you just talk to me about it?" Hope asked standing up.

Josie stood up too. "Why? What would you have said? What would you have done? It would have just changed things, or made things weird. What good would it really have done? It wouldn't have done any good." Josie nearly shouted.

The two girls stood in the middle of the room just looking at each other. Josie looked at Hope, waiting for the other girl to answer or say something.

After what felt like a lifetime. Hope took a step closer to Josie, taking one of her hands into her own, and opened her mouth to say something. "Well... actually..."

The bedroom door burst open, Alaric and Rafael came running in.

"Dad what the hell?!" Josie yelled.

"Have either of you seen or heard from Landon?" Alaric asked.

"No, why?" Hope asked worried.

"Well... he's missing."


	2. When the World Comes In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I deviate a little bit from cannon in this chapter and move some things around. Miss Mystic Falls doesn't happen and Penelope still leaves. But don't worry too much, she comes back eventually. Lizzie and Josie find out about the merge. And there's a sleepover... well kind of.

(Josie POV)

"Wait, what do you mean he's missing?" Hope asked. Josie could tell she was about to freak out.

The room started to shake. "Hope. Calm down, it's going to be okay. We'll find him. You just need to calm yourself before anything bad happens." Alaric started to move closer to Hope.

The lights began to flicker and things started to fall off of the shelves. Hope was really freaking out. Josie didn't know what to do, so she stepped forward and slipped her hand into the other girls.

"What is going on?" Lizzie came storming into the room, MG, Kaleb, and Penelope behind her. Hope slowly removed her hand from Josie's and took a step back.

Rafael turned to them. "Landon is missing." he explained.

"What do you mean missing? Hasn't he ran off before?" Penelope asked.

Rafael looked at her in anger. "He wouldn't just leave me like that! Something happened to him, and I'm going to find out what!"

All at once everyone began talking over one another. It was a mess of sounds and opinions. Honestly it was overwhelming to Josie.

Apparently Hope felt the same way, because while everyone was arguing, she slipped out of the room.

What Josie didn't notice however, was Penelope sneaking out too.

(Hope POV)

Hope was so lost and confused. Landon was missing and she had no idea where he was or how to save him.

She just needed a bit of peace and quiet to figure everything out and think. She sat on the ground and pulled her knees to her chest, taking a deep breath. She could figure this out. She had to.

Behind her, Hope heard the snap of a twig. "I know you're there." Hope said sarcastically. She opened her eyes expecting Josie or Lizzie. Or even Dr. Saltzman. Anyone but her.

Anyone but Penelope Park.

"What do you want?" Hope asked.

"I just wanted to talk to you about something. I know you have a lot going on right now but this is important." Penelope said softly.

Hope had never seen Penelope look so vulnerable. "Are you okay?"

"You need to look after Josie, okay?"

Now Hope was confused. "What are you talking about?"

Penelope paced back and forth. "Look, I know how much you care about her. And I know how she feels about you. And you need to look after her. Make sure she puts herself first. Help her to be heard. It might be her only chance to..." She stopped pacing and looked at Hope. "You have to look after her when I'm gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"I'm moving with my mom to Belgium. I leave in a few hours."

"Oh hell no! You are not putting this on me! You need to talk to Josie. Don't you dare leave her without an explanation. Don't you think you've done enough?" Hope exclaimed.

"I wrote her that note, remember? She never read it. What do you expect me to do? I can't just sit here and watch what's going to happen. I can't and I won't." Penelope was on the verge of tears.

Hope moved closer to the other girl. "What is that supposed to mean? What's going to happen?"

"Do you now anything about something called 'the merge'?" Penelope asked.

Hope shook her head.

"Look into it. And promise me you'll do what I asked you to do when I leave."

"When you leave? Where are you going?" Josie asked, startling the two girls.

Hope hadn't even heard Josie walk up on them. Josie moved closer to Penelope and Hope figured that they'd need a minute alone. "I'm just going to head back up to the school." she turned and walked away.

(Josie POV)

Josie had snuck out of the room shortly after Penelope and Hope. Though she never expected to find the two girls together. When she got close enough to hear them talking, Josie heard Penelope say something about leaving.

When Hope was out of earshot, Josie turned to Penelope. "You're leaving and you weren't even going to say goodbye? Where are you even going?"

Penelope sighed. "I did say goodbye, in my letter. My mom got a new job... in Belgium. There's a great witch only school. I won't have to deal with wolves, or vamps... or Lizzie." she tried to make a joke.

"Penelope." Josie didn't know what to say. "Please, don't leave."

Penelope smiled. "You know, for weeks I have been hoping that you'd give me just one reason to stay. Instead you've given me a million reasons to leave. You always back down, always put yourself second. Never stand up for yourself. My heart can't take it... and I will not wait around and watch what happens to you next."

"What are you talking about?"

Penelope sighed. "You need to research something called 'the merge'. I overheard your father talking to your mother about it over the phone. Just... look it up."

"I don't understand." a tear escaped from Josie's eye.

"Well you will... one day. You will understand why I did everything that I did. It was all make sense one day." Penelope began to cry.

Josie pulled Penelope closer and rested their heads together. Penelope reached up and brushed a tear away from Josie's cheek. That was when Josie broke. She kissed Penelope. Josie was so conflicted. Even after everything, she didn't want Penelope to go.

"I love you Jojo. I love you with all of my obnoxious, selfish, evil heart." Penelope had never told Josie that she loved her before and frankly, she didn't know what to say. She knew she needed to say something. Anything. But no words came out. "I have to go, my flight leaves in a few hours." Penelope added, turning to walk back up to the school.

When Penelope was out of sight, Josie dropped to the ground, sobbing.

(Hope POV)

As soon as Hope got back to her room, she called her Aunt Freya and asked her if she knew anything about the Gemini coven and something called The Merge.

Freya told Hope she'd look into it and get back to her as soon as she found out anything.

Hope paced around her room, thinking about everything. But one thing really stuck in her mind and she couldn't figure out why. It was something Penelope had said, and in the moment she hadn't thought twice about it.

When Penelope was telling Hope to look after Josie, she said "I know how she feels about you." And what was that supposed to mean? How Josie feels about Hope? Like as friends? Or? Hope didn't know and she didn't know why it bothered her so much.

Freya called back rather quickly and Hope rushed to answer. "What did you find?"

"Nothing good." Freya began to explain the history of the Gemini coven and about the merge. A fire grew inside of Hope as she listened to every word her Aunt had to say.

She didn't even say goodbye when she hung up her phone and marched straight to Dr. Saltzman's office.

Hope burst in the door angrily. Dr. Saltzman jerked his head up from the book he was reading. "Hope! What's going on? Is this about..."

"Why the hell haven't you told the twins about the merge?!" she spat.

Alaric looked genuinely surprised by Hope's outburst. "I... um. How did you know about that?"

That pissed Hope off even more. "It doesn't matter how I know. But you need to tell them, like now. And if you won't do it, I sure as hell will. They deserve to know everything. You need to tell them."

(Josie POV)

Josie sat outside for what felt like forever, looking up at the sky and trying to figure out what Penelope was talking about before she left.

"Josie? There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere. Dad wants to see us in his office." Lizzie snuck up on her sister.

Reluctantly, Josie stood and followed her sister inside and to their fathers office. "Hey girls, come in and have a seat. There's something we need to talk about. This is a conversation I have literally been dreading since the day you were born. Your mother wanted to be here for this, which is ironically the very same reason why she can't be here."

Their father was rambling. "Come on dad, spit it out." Lizzie joked.

Their father's face fell. He began to tell them the history of the Gemini coven, their Uncle Kai, and the things that he had done. When he got to the reason why, Josie could almost literally feel the breath leave her lungs. Her heart was beating in her ears as her father unleashed all of the dirty little secrets he had been keeping.

For the first time ever, Lizzie was completely speechless. Josie, however, could not spend one more second in that office. She stood up and ran out. This was all too much. Her family history was so jacked up. Her and Lizzie would basically have to kill each other. And for what?

So this was what Penelope had been talking about. This is why she always wanted Josie to quit backing down and stand up to Lizzie. She knew about all of this. How?

Josie stormed into her room. Lizzie ran up behind her. "Josie wait! We should talk about this."

Josie didn't want to talk. Especially not with Lizzie, not yet. "Lizzie, not now."

"Josie we need to talk about this. I mean, you heard what dad said. We can't do it. We have to find a way to stop it. We have to..."

"Lizzie!" Josie grabbed the necklace that Hope had gotten her for her birthday. Makes quiet things heard? Good. She was damn well about to be heard. "I said I don't want to talk about it."

"But Jo..."

"I said NO Lizzie!" Josie began to siphon magic from the necklace.

Lizzie noticed too, and began siphoning magic from a book on the desk next to her. 

"Jo. Just..."

"I SAID NO!" Josie mumbled a spell and aimed it at Lizzie.

Lizzie, knowing what her sister was going to do, did the same.

Their spells collided in the middle and both girls struggled to gain control. Josie thought about everything that was going on. She thought about how it made her feel. How much it all pissed her off. How tired she was of always being second, never being heard. Well no more. Josie pushed forward, powering her spell.

However, she wasn't expecting to send Lizzie flying across the room. Which was exactly what happened.

Josie watched as her sister hit the ground. This wasn't what she wanted. She never wanted to hurt Lizzie and she knew that none of this was her sister's fault. Josie began to cry. "I'm so sorry." She ran out of the room. This was all just too much.

(Hope POV)

After she had yelled at Dr. Saltzman, Hope stormed up to her room to cool off. It had taken forever, but now that she was actually starting to become friends with the twins, it was sounding like she was going to lose one of them.

Hope would never let that happen. Ever. There had to be a way around it. And whatever that way was, Hope would find it. But first, Landon.

Sitting on her bed, Hope started thinking about Landon and where he might be. Rafael was right, there was no way that Landon would just leave without saying anything to any body.

So then where was he?

Hope was deep in thought when someone began frantically knocking on her door. She climbed out of bed and walked over to answer it. 

There, in her doorway, was Lizzie Saltzman. She had tears streaming down her face. Hope ushered the girl into her room and shut the door.

Even though Hope was sure she already knew, she asked anyways. "Lizzie, what happened?"

Lizzie started from when her father had told them about the merge, and Josie running from the room. She said how upset Josie was and how she had never seen her that way before. "And then she launched me across the room with her magic. We fought and she won."

Okay, now that, Hope was not expecting. "She launched you across the room?"

Lizzie nodded, still crying. "I don't know where she went and I'm so worried about her. I don't know what to do or say about any of this. I just... I can't lose her Hope."

Hope pulled the other girl in for a hug. It was probably the most vulnerable Hope had ever seen Lizzie. Like ever. "Why don't you stay here. Get some rest. I'll go look for Josie, make sure she's okay, and maybe talk her down." Hope suggested.

Lizzie nodded. "Just make sure she's okay."

Hope nodded as she stood up and moved towards the door. "Hey Hope?" Lizzie called out before Hope left.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Hope replied leaving Lizzie behind in her room.

Now where was Josie Saltzman?

Hope headed for the first place she could think of, the clubhouse. She ran as fast as she could hoping that Josie was there. When she arrived, Hope walked up the stairs and quietly opened the door. "Josie?" she called.

"Hope? What are you doing here?" Josie had been crying as well. It broke Hope's heart to see Josie like this. And she would do anything to take away the other girls pain.

"I talked to Lizzie..." Hope didn't know what else to say.

"So you know?"

Hope nodded.

"Is she okay? I never meant to hurt her."

"She's fine. Just worried about you. She said that she had never seen you so upset before." Hope explained.

"I don't know what came over me. I mean, I do. But I don't. So much crap has happened to me lately and now all of this merge stuff on top of it. I think it finally just pushed me over the edge. I never ever meant to hurt Lizzie and if it comes down to it I would gladly sacrifice myself so that she could live. I mean at first I was so angry, that I almost blamed Lizzie for all of this. But it's not her fault. I should have been standing up for myself all this time. We both have things to work on. But I love my sister, and I won't let her die." Josie confessed.

"Neither of you are dying. I won't let it happen." Hope told the other girl.

Josie smiled and laid on the ground. "I hope you're right." she closed her eyes.

Hope wanted to ask what Josie was doing on the floor, but instead she laid down next to her. Josie slipped a hand into Hope's, eyes still closed. Hope's stomach did a flip. Why? Hope knew better than to question it. So she closed her eyes too. Before she knew it, she was sound asleep.

It was the next morning when Hope woke up. Josie was gone. Hope hopped up and ran outside. Standing on the porch watching the sunrise, was Josie. "Hey there sleepyhead."

Hope blushed. She didn't mean to fall asleep and was slightly embarrassed. The only reason Josie had probably stayed was because she felt bad. "I'm sorry I fell asleep."

Josie smiled. "No don't be. You've been through a lot lately. Especially with Landon missing. You needed to sleep. Now maybe you'll be able to think more clearly."

Hope was amazed. Even when Josie was going through hell herself, she still managed to care about someone else's wellbeing. "What about you though? With all of this new information about the merge, shouldn't you be focused on that? Not all of my baggage."

Josie let out a small laugh. "All of your baggage? That's what you're calling Landon's disappearance?"

"No! That's not what I meant. I just meant that you have so much..."

"Hope. Hope, it's okay. I know what you meant. It's just that Landon is missing right now. And if what my dad says is true, I still have like five or six years left to figure out a loophole in all of this merge business." Josie explained.

"You know as soon as we find Landon, we'll figure a way out of the merge. I won't rest until we do." hope smiled at the other girl.

It was quiet for a few moments. Both girls stood on the porch, watching the sun come up. Hope turned to look at Josie. She looked so at ease, like nothing bad was going on. she looked beautiful. Josie must have sensed Hope was looking at her because she turned to look at Hope. Hope turned away, a blush coming to her cheeks. Josie let out a laugh. "You don't have to look away from me every time I look at you."

Hope was embarrassed she got caught. "I just, well you look so calm right now. With everything going on with you, you still manage to look so... unaffected."

"It's hard. And I've always just kept everything pushed down, deep inside. But finding out about the merge, attacking Lizzie, it brought everything boiling to the top. I don't want to be that person. I won't. So from now on I wont hide my feelings to protect anyone else's. These last couple of weeks have been crazy for me. The merge, Penelope leaving, being buried alive. But I think the hardest thing was having to siphon the magic out of my biological mom... killing her..."

"Josie, you didn't kill your mother." Hope interrupted.

"I know she was already dead, and it was just the Necromancer who brought her back. I've made peace with that. Doesn't make it any less hard. She sacrificed herself because she knew it was the right thing to do." Josie explained, a single tear sliding down her cheek.

Something Josie said clicked in Hope's head. "Wait, what did you just say?"

Josie looked confused. "She knew it was the right thing to do?"

"No, before that."

"She sacrificed herself?"

"Josie you're a genius!" Hope shouted.

Josie laughed. "What are you talking about crazy girl?"

"Go get Lizzie, she's in my room. Find Kaleb, MG, and Raf. Meet me in your dad's office!" Hope ran up to the school, Josie close behind.

She ran quickly up the stairs and straight to Dr. Saltzman's office. She didn't even knock before swinging the door open. Alaric jerked his head up from his desk. "What the... Hope? What are you doing?"

"Wait for everyone else to get here." Hope said.

"Everyone else?"

"Yeah. Josie and I were talking this morning and she gave me the perfect idea. She's getting the others right now."

Alaric looked confused. "Wait? You and Josie were together this morning?" he looked at his watch, seeing how early it was.

Hope's eyes widened in surprise. She didn't know how to answer that question. "Um..."

As if on que, Josie and the others walked into the room. "Does someone want to explain to me why I was practically kidnapped and dragged to the headmasters office at this ungodly hour?" Kaleb asked, still in his pajamas.

"Well I'm just as confused as you are." Alaric replied.

"How do you all feel about a little road trip?" Hope asked.

Josie, Lizzie, and Kaleb's eyes all widened. "Um, after spring break I don't think I ever wasn't to go on another road trip again." Kaleb said.

Lizzie let out a loud laugh. "I'm sorry. Not funny." then she play punched Hope. "Punch buggy, no returns."

Josie couldn't help but let out a little giggle and Hope smirked too.

"Okay, okay. Enough jokes. Seriously Hope, why the road trip?" Alaric asked.

"Because Dr. Saltzman, thanks to Josie, I know where to find Landon."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all liked the new chapter! Chapter 3 probably won't be up until Saturday or Sunday, I work doubles the rest of the week so I'll be pretty busy. But thank you so much for reading and all of the comments and kudos! I appreciate all of the feedback. Let me know what you think is going to happen next, or things you might like to see!!


	3. Nothing Stays the Same

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Please don't hate me for this chapter. I promise it gets better if you just stick around. Thanks again for all of the kudos and comments, I appreciate all of the feedback! Please let me know what you think and if there's anything you want to see in future chapters!!!

"Where?" Alaric asked

"Fort Valley, Georgia." Hope replied.

"Triad?"

Hope saw Lizzie and Josie look at their father, confused.

"I think that Landon is subconsciously looking for his mother." Hope explained.

"But didn't she jump into the Malivore pit?" Everyone turned to look at Lizzie. Her eyes widened and she looed at Hope apologetically.

Hope just smiled at the other girl. "It's okay." It was time for Hope to be honest with her friends. She explained to them what all had happened when her and Dr. Saltzman went to look for Landon and how she was the only one that could remember Landon's mom.

"So why can you remember and nobody else can?" Rafael asked, a hint of anger in his voice.

"I honestly have no idea. Dr. Saltzman and I have been trying to figure it out for weeks." Hope replied.

"Well why do you think that's where Landon is? I mean if he can't remember his mother, then why would he go there?" Rafael snapped back.

"Well when me and Josie were talking, she mentioned something about her mother." Hope stopped and gave a sad smile to the other girl. "And it made me think of Landon's mom. And that made me remember that Landon is drawn to the artifacts, like the knife. So maybe, just maybe, he is being drawn to his mother. Who's in the pit."

Alaric was the next to speak. "That's smart thinking Hope. I'll call in for some backup and we'll go to Fort Valley while you guys hang back."

"Oh no, that's not happening and I think you already know that." Hope challenged.

Alaric sighed. "Well I had to at least try. I just don't want to see any of you get hurt."

Hope smiled and looked around at all of her friends. "Don't worry Dr. Saltzman, the Super Squad can defend themselves."

"Ya damn right." MG blurted and everyone couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright. I guess everyone who wants to come, head back to your dorms and grab a few small things. Only what you need. But before you go, just remember that this is serious. And it's going to be dangerous, none of you can take this lightly. If you decide you don't want to come, nobody would blame you. So I'm going to ask one more time, are you sure that you're all ready for this?" Alaric asked the group of teens.

"I'm in, all the way." Josie was the first to answer. Hope beamed at her friend, proud that she was finally starting to speak for herself.

Everyone else voiced their agreement and Alaric took a deep breath before speaking again. "I feel like I'm going to regret this, but everyone seems to be in agreement. Take some time to get your things in order and we'll all meet out front at noon."

Everyone turned to leave the room. Hope didn't know how this was going to turn out, but she was so thankful to have such amazing friends who always had her back. That was something she never thought she would have.

Hope was in her room grabbing a small bag of things she'd need, when she noticed a small card on her pillow. She picked it up and was about to read it when she heard a small knock on her door. "Come in." she called.

The door creeped open and Lizzie came in. "Hey, I just wanted to come say I was sorry about blurting out about Landon's mom."

"It's really okay. I promise. It's about time I was honest with everyone. And it feels so good to know that I have all of you by my side." Hope admitted.

Lizzie smiled. "Thank you for saying that. I'm still working on the whole friend thing, but I wanted to let you know that I'm here for you. All of this can't be easy so I just wanted to check up and see how you were feeling about it all. Malivore, Landon, the Triad? We've got a lot to deal with."

"We just need to focus on getting Landon back. We can worry about the Triad and Malivore once Landon is safely back home." Hope answered her friend.

"Okay." Lizzie smiled, a look of relief on her face. "Well I'm going to go finish packing with Josie, so I'll see you down there." she said leaving Hope's room.

After Lizzie was out of the room, Hope picked back up the letter she had found on her bed.

Hope,  
Remember to always keep her safe. You're the only one who can.  
Keep making sure that she's heard.  
I know you'll do what's best for her.  
-P

Penelope must have put this here for Hope before she left. Penelope Park may have not always done the right thing, but Hope knew that she had the right reasons. She would do anything to keep Josie safe.

Hope put the letter in her bag and made her way downstairs. She made a silent promise to Penelope that she would do anything to keep Josie safe. Always.

At 12 o'clock sharp, everyone was out front and piling into Alaric's van. Rafael sat in front with Dr. Saltzman. Hope, Lizzie, and Josie sat in the middle, like they had done on spring break. MG and Kaleb were in the back. Everyone was ready to go.

Hope remembered that Josie got carsick really easily, so she cast a silent spell to help Josie sleep. Maybe that would help her nausea.

Josie fell asleep fairly quickly and had slowly rested her head on Hope's shoulder. Hope couldn't fight the small smile that appeared on her face when Josie's head hit her shoulder. She couldn't lie, it felt really good. Josie looked so peaceful when she was asleep, Hope felt like she could watch the other girl sleep forever and never get tired of the sight.

Hope looked over at Lizzie, instantly remembering there were other people in the car. Lizzie had a small smirk on her face, she had obviously seen the interaction. "Shut up." Hope whispered just loud enough for Lizzie to hear. 

"Hey, I didn't say anything." Lizzie whispered back with a small laugh. 

Hope rolled her eyes. She was beginning to get tired, and found herself quickly drifting off to sleep. Unfortunately she didn't sleep for very long. Nightmares forced her awake. When Hope jolted awake, Josie was awake as well. A slight blush met her cheeks when she remembered the position the other girl had been in when she had dozed off.

The teens played a few travel games and sang along to songs on the radio to keep them busy. It was a long drive and Hope was starting to feel restless. She assumed the others were as well.

When Josie started to sing, Hope found herself unable to keep herself from staring. Josie had the most beautiful voice and it completely captivated Hope.

Again Hope felt eyes on her and she turned to see Lizzie with the same shit eating grin from earlier. Hope rolled her eyes and ignored the other girl.

It was almost two in the morning when they got to the hotel. "I booked two rooms. One for the boys and one for the girls." Dr. Saltzman handed Hope their room key. "Get some rest and we'll meet up in the morning to make a plan."

Hope nodded. "Goodnight Dr. Saltzman. Night Raf, MG, and Kaleb. Thank you again for coming."

"Where else would the Super Squad be?" MG joked as they said their goodnights.

Lizzie and Josie hugged their father before following Hope up to their room. "So which bed do you guys want?" Hope asked when they got into the room. She assumed the twins would probably prefer to share a bed. Her face turned red at the thought of the alternative. Josie. In her bed.

"You okay? Your face is like super red." Lizzie asked laughing.

"I'm fine." Hope almost snapped back. "Sorry. I'm just tired."

The girls changed into pj's and climbed into their beds. They were all exhausted from the long car ride. 

Hope passed out rather quickly, but was yet again awakened by a nightmare. She started crying quietly. Not that she would ever tell anyone, but the nightmares were really starting to get to her.

Hope heard rustling in the bed next to hers and squeezed her eyes shut. Pretending to be asleep. The rustling continued, then she felt her covers move back and someone climbed into her bed... and then another someone.

Josie and Lizzie had climbed in the bed on either side of Hope. She started crying again. Josie pulled Hope closer to her and Lizzie took her hand. "It's going to be okay Hope. We're here. Shhhh, it's okay." Josie comforted her.

"We'll find him Hope. I promise." Lizzie squeezed her hand.

Hope closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep as Josie played with her hair. Hope's last thoughts before drifting off to sleep were not of Landon however, they were of Josie.

The next morning Hope woke up to an empty bed. She sat up quickly and saw the twins up and already dressed. "Well good morning sunshine." Josie winked when she noticed that Hope was awake.

"Hey! We thought we'd let you sleep in a little bit. It's going to be a long day and you really seemed like you needed it." Lizzie chimed in.

"Thank you." Hope climbed out of bed. "And um, I'm sorry about last night. Stupid nightmares." she said quietly. She was embarrassed.

"Don't be sorry. It happens. And we were just glad that we could be there for you. Right Lizzie?" Josie looked to her sister. 

"Right."

"Well thank you both. It means a lot to me." It got quiet. "Okay well I guess I'll go get dressed and we can go over to the boys' room to formulate a plan." Hope grabbed her clothes and slipped into the bathroom.

Why couldn't she stop thinking about how nice it was to have Josie sleeping next to her. She was here to save Landon, her boyfriend Landon.

Well, then why couldn't she stop thinking about Josie?

Hope got dressed quickly and followed the twins to the boy's room. Alaric let them in and they gathered around each other to come up with a plan.

"Okay, so this is a search and rescue mission. We want to be able to slide in as quickly and quietly as possible. We have no idea how many guards there are, so stealth is going to be our best friend." Dr. Saltzman started.

Hope gave the only information she had about the building where she had last seen Seylah, which was not much. "If she could break her way in and jump into the Malivore pit, then the seven of us should have no problem. She's only human. No offense Dr. Saltzman."

"None taken." he replied.

Everyone took turns suggesting how they might get into the building and find Landon. Eventually they came up with a plan that MG deemed foolproof.

The group loaded up in Dr. Saltzman's van and headed to their destination. Ric parked the van in the woods about a half mile from the Triad building. He claimed it was far enough distance and Hope agreed.

They had decided to split up into two teams, much to Alaric's displeasure. But decided it would be more stealthy and therefore safer for everyone.

Before they separated Alaric pulled Hope aside. "Take care of my girls Hope. Please." He whispered. 

"I'll protect them with my life." Hope replied.

Alaric nodded before he, along with MG and Kaleb, went their separate ways. 

Hope turned to the twins and Rafael. "You ready for this?" she asked.

"Born ready. Let's go get my brother back." Rafael answered. 

Getting into the building was much easier than Hope expected. There were only a handful of guards to take out, which was a piece of cake. Hope couldn't help but worry. It shouldn't be this easy. Something was off.

But they continued anyways. They needed to find Landon.

Eventually they came across a huge open room with a black pit filled with what looked like mud. "The Malivore pit?" Lizzie asked quietly.

Hope nodded. That was when she saw him. Landon, tied to a chair, head down. She pointed towards him so that Raf and the twins would see. "Let's go."

They hurried down the stairs and to Landon. Hope got to him first and took off his gag. "Hope? Raf?" Landon questioned. "You're okay? How are you here?" he asked frantically.

Lizzie hurried and untied Landon's hands and feet. 

"Yeah we're okay. Are you okay?" Rafael asked pulling his brother in for a hug.

Hope hung on to the way Landon had acted when she had pulled off the gag. "Why would you ask if we were the ones that were okay?" she asked.

"I think I can answer that." Ryan Clarke said from the top of the stairs.

Hope walked forward, ready to attack. Clarke laughed. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." He motioned with his hands. Guards entered the room dragging MG, Kaleb, and Dr. Saltzman with them. 

"Dad!" Lizzie yelled. Josie grabbed her arm before she could run to their father. 

"What's going on? Let them go." Hope stated forcefully.

"You're awfully bossy for someone who is clearly not in control of this situation. I'm not going to lie though it's quite the surprise that you're all here. You must have gotten out right in time."

"Right in time for what? What is going on?" Hope asked.

"Well I bet you're wondering why it was so easy to get in here." Clarke stated. "Well that would be because the Triad is infiltrating the Salvitore school as we speak." 

"What the hell are you..." A guard cracked Alaric in the head with his gun.

"Stop!" Hope and Josie shouted at the same time.

Clarke just smiled. "Well, they're under the impression that the third and final Malivore object is at your school." He pulled out his gun and shot each of the guards in the head. "They are mistaken."

Josie and Lizzie rushed over to their father to make sure he was okay. Hope never took her eyes off of Ryan Clarke.

"What the hell are you talking about? There are innocent children at that school!" Hope yelled.

Clarke looked to Landon. "Do you want to tell her? Or should I? Brother..."

"Brother?" Hope and Rafael asked at the same time.

"Uh, kinda." Landon replied.

Clarke began his descent down the stairs. "I'll start at the beginning." He explained how Malivore, a golem, was created and why. The blood of a werewolf, vampire, and a witch. Then he went on to talk about how Malivore wanted to expand his bloodline, creating Ryan Clarke himself. And how he was returned to his original state as a pit of mud. Then how, with the DNA of all of the humans he had consumed, Malivore was able to conceive Landon with Seylah. 

Hope was in shock as she listened to Clarke's story. This was crazy. How was any of this possible? "So what? Landon is half golem, half human?" Rafael ased.

"I'm a phoenix." Landon replied.

So now they knew what Landon was. And that he was supernatural after all. "That doesn't explain why the Triad has infiltrated my school! Alaric shouted, hardly able to stand up.

"Ah well I may have hinted that the final Malivore artifact was located somewhere inside of your school."

"But it's not!"

"Yes I know this. That's because it's here, isn't that right little brother?"

Everyone looked at Landon.

Landon looked to the floor. He mumbled something Hope couldn't hear.

"What?" She asked him.

"He said it's him." Kaleb stood up, pulling MG up with him.

He must have heard him with his vampire hearing. But he had to be wrong. There was no way. "Landon?" Hope whispered.

"I'm the last artifact." Landon said louder.

"You see, our father... well he's going to need a body. And my little brother here, well he's the chosen one. Our father wants the bloodline to continue, and that's only possible with good ole Landon here as his meat suit."

"Well that's not going to happen. It's all of us against you. We're taking Landon and getting out of here."

As soon as Hope was finished talking, alarms started going off in the building. Hope took this welcomed distraction, she grabbed Landon and ran towards her friends.

The lights began to flicker and guards started swarming the room. "Come on, we have to get out of here, now!" Hope yelled. 

Guards were everywhere. They were going to have to fight their way out.

She was so focused on making sure her friends were safe, Hope didn't notice the guard running up behind her. "Hope look out!" Josie ran up and tackled the guard.

Landon was at the exit. "Come on Hope, let's go!" he yelled.

Hope couldn't leave yet. Her friends were still in there. She turned to run back into the building. "No! Hope go!" Josie siphoned magic from the necklace Hope had given her and casted a spell that sent three guards flying across the room. "Get Landon out of here! We'll be right behind you!"

As much as she didn't want to leave, Hope knew that Josie was right. The only way to keep Malivore from being released was to protect Landon. Hope turned around and ran. She ran and ran until she and Landon made it back to the van.

Only then did she stop to catch her breath. Rafael and Lizzie were the next ones to show up. MG, Kaleb, and Dr. Saltzman were right behind them. "come on, get in the van. We have to get out of here, NOW!" Alaric ran to the driver side of the van and hopped in.

Where was Josie? They couldn't leave without her. "Wait! We can't leave yet!" she yelled.

"What? Why?" Lizzie asked.

"They're coming after us Hope. We have to leave now." Landon followed up.

Had everyone gone bat shit crazy? They were not seriously suggesting that they leave without Josie? "No, we can't leave without her! Have you all lost your damn minds?" Hope was starting to hyperventilate. She needed to get back. She needed to get to Josie. Why were they all looking at her like she had grown a second head?

"Hope what are you talking about? If we don't leave now, they're going to catch us." Alaric tried to talk some sense into her.

"So we're just going to leave her here?" Hope shouted. "You're just going to leave your daughter here?" This was all too much.

"Hope, I'm right here." Lizzie looked so confused.

"Are you freaking kidding me? That's it, everyone here has lost their freaking minds. I'm going back for her. You may be okay with leaving her here, but I... I'm not." Hope turned to walk away.

Hope was so freaked out that she hadn't even thought of the reason nobody could remember the other Saltzman twin.

"Hope stop!" Landon grabbed her by the hand. "Who are you talking about?"

"Josie! I'm talking about Josie!!" Hope screamed falling to the ground.

Hope saw everyone looking at each other. Lizzie dropped to her knees in front of Hope and grabbed her hands. "Hope... um." Lizzie looked up at her father and friends.

"Who is Josie?"


	4. World in Pieces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so you're going to hate me. There's more angst again this chapter. Just a heads up, the next two and a half chapters are going to be pretty angsty. It will get better though, I promise. Just stick with me a little longer. As always, thank you for reading. Let me know what you think, I appreciate all of the comments and kudos. If anyone has any ideas of what you think is going to happen next, feel free to comment your guess.

Hope started screaming. No. This could not be happening. They didn't remember Josie. None of them. She had to go back. She had to save Josie from the pit.

Hope stood up and started running back towards the Triad building. Landon chased after her and held her back. "Hope, stop!"

"No! No! Josie" Hope screamed. "Josie!" Tears fell freely down Hope's cheeks. She couldn't breathe. This could not be happening. This was too much. This was all too much.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lizzie siphon magic from MG. She didn't hear what spell she cast, but next thing she knew, everything was black.

 

When Hope woke up she was in Alaric's van, sitting in between Lizzie and Landon. The sun was just coming up. The sunrise was so beautiful. It reminded her of the other morning with Josie.

"Josie!" Hope screamed. "We have to go back!" Alaric swerved and almost went off the road before pulling over and parking the car on the shoulder of the road.

Hope climbed over Landon and practically fell out of the car. She started walking back in the opposite direction. She was so focused she didn't even hear Alaric get out and call her name. "Hope stop! For just one second, just stop. What is going on? Talk to me."

Hope turned around to face Alaric. "She told me to go. And I just left. I never should have left her. Now nobody remembers her. Not even her own father."

Alaric looked sympathetically at Hope. "Just get back in the van. I promise you, once we get back to the school we will talk about this and we'll get everything sorted out. Please Hope."

Hope thought about running away, back to Josie. But what good would it do? She had no idea how to save Josie from Malivore, not yet anyways. As much as she hated to admit it, Hope knew that Dr. Saltzman was right.

She sighed and walked back to the van with her head down. Landon stepped out so Hope could slide back into the middle.

Lizzie looked at Hope with sadness in her eyes. Hope looked away. she knew that it wasn't their faults that they couldn't remember Josie, but it still ate at her anyways.

Landon reached for Hope's hand. "Are you okay?" he asked. 

Hope pulled away. "I'm fine."

It was quiet the rest of the way back to the school. All Hope could think about was how she was going to rescue Josie. There had to be a way, and Hope wouldn't stop looking until she found it. First, she needed to get Lizzie and Dr. Saltzman on board.

When they got back to the school, it looked like all traces of the Triad were gone. Everything seemed normal. Emma and Dorian came running out of the school when they saw the van approach. "Thank god you're back! We were so worried about you when you didn't call and check in." Emma said.

"Are you okay? Are the kids okay?" Dr. Saltzman asked, worried.

Emma and Dorian both looked confused. "Yeah, why wouldn't we be?" Dorian asked.

"The Triad! Weren't they here?" Ric asked.

"No."

"Why would Ryan Clarke say that Triad had infiltrated the school if they hadn't? I don't understand."

"He probably just was trying to get under our skins." Lizzie spoke up.

Dr. Saltzman scratched his head. "Yeah, I guess so."

Everyone stood in silence. "Well as fun as this has been, I need a shower. And a bed." Kaleb broke the silence.

"That's a good idea. You should all go in and get some rest." Dr. Saltzman followed up.

"You coming?" Landon asked reaching for Hope's hand.

"No. I need to talk to Lizzie and Dr. Saltzman before I do anything else." Hope replied.

Landon sighed and rolled his eyes. "Okay." he leaned in and tried to kiss her. Hope turned her head last second and Landon's lips met her cheek.

Hope knew she wasn't exactly being fair to Landon. None of this was his fault. But she needed to do whatever it took to get Josie back. 

Hope hurried over to Lizzie and Alaric. "Please can we talk? I know you're both tired, but this is important. Please." She practically begged.

"Okay Hope. Let's go up to my office, we'll talk up there." Dr. Saltzman looked so tired and Hope felt bad. But all she needed to do was convince them that Josie was real and they needed to save her.

They made their way up to the office and Alaric sat down behind his desk. Hope took a deep breath and began. "Okay Dr. Saltzman, so you remember when we went to go rescue Landon, the first time? And I told you about his mother Seylah, and how she jumped into the Malivore pit and everyone forgot about her but me?" Hope asked.

Alaric nodded. "Yes, I remember."

Hope started pacing. "Okay well when we went to save Landon, we had someone else with us. Somehow she ended up in the Malivore pit. which is why neither of you can remember her."

"Josie?" Lizzie asked.

"Your sister." Hope saw a picture frame on one of the shelves and picked it up. It had a photo of both of the twins. She showed it to both of them. "Your daughter."

Lizzie snatched the picture from Hope. "Why don't I remember this? Remember her?" she handed the picture to her father.

"That's what I have been trying to tell you. She's trapped somewhere in Malivore. And we need to save her."

"I have another daughter?" Alaric whispered to himself.

"Josette." Alaric jerked his head up. "After her mother."

"Daddy. I think Hope is telling the truth. Ever since we left Fort Valley I've felt like something was off. Something was missing. We have to help her. We have to help save Josie." Lizzie told her father.

"Okay." he finally said. "We'll help. I'll talk to Dorian and see what all we can find out about Malivore. And if it's possible to bring back someone who has been consumed. I'll also make a few phone calls, try to see if we can get some outside help. You two, go get some rest. We'll talk more about this tomorrow."

Lizzie and Hope left Dr. Saltzman's office and headed towards their rooms. "Hope?" Lizzie called.

Hope turned to look at the other girl. "Yeah Lizzie?"

"I was just wondering. Um, would... I mean." Lizzie stumbled over her words. "Can you sleep in my room tonight? I just... I really don't want to be alone."

Hope nodded. "Of course." Truth is, Hope really didn't want to be alone either.

She followed Lizzie up to her room. Lizzie opened the door and walked in, Hope right behind her. Hope closed the door and watched as Lizzie walked over to her bed and sat down.

"I have two beds." Lizzie started crying.

Hope sat on the bed next to Lizzie and pulled her into a hug. "It's okay. Let it out."

After a few moments, the two girls pulled apart. "Hope... Can you tell me about her? Maybe it will help me remember." Lizzie wiped away her tears.

"Josie?"

Lizzie nodded.

Hope smiled. Then she began describing everything she could about Josie. Every last detail, good and bad. She told Lizzie about Penelope, the talent show, the flag football game. Hope even went as far back as to when the twins were born. "They named you Elizabeth after your grandmother, which you already know. And Josie, Josette, after your biological mother."

"I'm a horrible sister." Lizzie started to cry again.

"No Lizzie. You're not. You may have made some mistakes. You both did. But that does not make you a bad sister."

"It sounds to me like Josie never made any mistakes."

Hope couldn't hold back her laugh. "She's literally the reason that we have been at each others throats the last few years."

"How?"

Hope hesitated for a moment. "Well uh, so there was fire in my room that pretty much ruined your guys' spring break with your father. And she may have inadvertently started the rumor that I was the one who called you 'Witch Bipolar'."

Lizzie's mouth dropped open. "Why? Why would she do that?"

This was what Hope was hoping to avoid. "Well apparently you made some comment about Josie being obsessed with me. And she didn't want you to find out the truth, so she made up the thing about me saying mean things about you."

"The truth? The truth about what?"

"Shit. So you don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to people Josie likes. You end up going for them too... and Josie didn't want you to know that she had a crush on me. So she lied. Right before we went to find Landon is when we found out about all of this. You forgave her. Josie is your favorite person in the world, even if you don't feel that way now." Hope explained.

Lizzie looked deep in thought for a moment. "Wait... so Josie had a crush on you?"

"Yes."

"And that crush was one sided?"

Hope didn't answer right away. "I uh..." did she have a crush on Josie?

She couldn't lie, Hope genuinely thought Josie was drop dead gorgeous. She was smart, and funny, and her voice... "Holy shit."

Lizzie's mouth fell open. "You totally have a crush on my sister!"

"No! I don't... But even if I did, it wouldn't matter anyways. First, Josie doesn't like me like that anymore. Second, I'm with Landon." Hope said.

Lizzie grabbed Hope's hand. "We will get her back. I promise."

"We, uh... we should probably get some sleep." Hope suggested after a moment.

"You can sleep in the other bed." Lizzie pointed over to Josie's bed.

Hope hesitated before walking over and sitting on the bed. It was weird, being in Josie's bed. Not a bad weird. Just not what Hope was expecting. As she pulled the blankets over her, Hope caught a scent. It smelled like Josie. Hope pulled the blankets up to her nose and breathed in. She never quite realized how good Josie smelled... and oh god, that was weird. 

She was sniffing her friends blanket... that was weird. She was making this weird. Ugh!

As Hope drifted off to sleep, the last thing that ran through her mind was Josie. And she would stop at nothing to get her back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thanks again for reading. I know this chapter is a little shorter than the others. It's more of a filler chapter for what's about to come next. Things are about to get more intense. Next chapter should be up by Saturday or Sunday night.


	5. What Next

The next morning Hope woke up and for a second, she forgot where she was. Josie's bed. Josie! Hope needed to go speak with Dr. Saltzman. They needed to come up with some sort of plan.

Lizzie was still asleep, so Hope snuck out of the room as quietly as she could.

This time, when she got to Dr. Saltzman's office, Hope knocked on the door. "Come in." she heard him call from the other side. 

Hope opened the door and walked in. "Hey Dr. Saltzman. Do you have a minute? I know it's early."

"Yeah, come on in. Have a seat." Hope noticed the picture of the twins on his desk, but didn't say anything.

"Did you find out anything new about Malivore?" Hope asked.

"Just about how he was a Golem created by the blood of a vampire, a witch, and a werewolf. But we already knew that. I'm having troubles finding anything else."

"The Triad probably has records of Malivore. I mean, they seem to know everything. What if we went back?" Hope suggested.

"After we broke in, I'm pretty sure their security will be tripled and on high alert. I don't even know if we could even get back in."

"What if we had help?"

"I don't know Hope."

"Well we have to do something! I will do anything to get Josie back. Anything." Hope almost shouted.

Dr. Saltzman cleared his throat. "It sounds like you really care about her."

Hope nodded. "I do."

"So, uh... were you two?" he asked awkwardly.

Hope's eyes widened. "No! I'm with Landon."

"Okay." Dr. Saltzman was embarrassed. "Well I will talk to a few people. Figure out what I can and I promise you'll be the first to know when I have a plan."

"Okay. Thank you Dr. Saltzman." Hope said before leaving the office.

Hope was on her way back to see if Lizzie was awake yet when she bumped into Landon. "Hope! There you are! I went by your room to find you, but you weren't there. I was wondering if we could talk?"

Hope nodded. "Yeah, okay." She felt like she owed the boy an explanation.

She walked down stairs and to the front yard with Landon. They sat on the grass in silence for a moment. "I'm sorry." Landon finally spoke.

"For what?"

"Everything. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I feel like all of this is my fault. I mean, my father is the big bad in this story."

"Landon, this isn't your fault. You don't get to chose your parents. You can't blame yourself." Hope told the boy.

Landon sighed. "Okay, well then why have you been acting so weird towards me lately?"

Hope got all defensive. "I'm not!"

"Yes you have Hope. Ever since you got back from Spring Break." Landon claimed.

"No I haven't. You don't know what you're talking about." Hope was getting angry.

"You wouldn't even let me hold your hand, or kiss you. I'm your boyfriend Hope. You're supposed to want to do all of those things. But instead, all you're worried about is this Josie person that nobody knows. It's like you're obsessed." Landon spat.

Hope faced the boy. It took everything in her not to hit Landon. "Wow. You know what, screw you." She turned to walk away before she did something that she would regret.

Hope hadn't been this angry in a long time. She need to run. Hope shifted quickly and took off into the woods.

She ran for hours, blowing off steam. Hope ran until she couldn't run anymore. Finally, when she had tired herself out, Hope ran back to where she left her clothes and changed back.

One her way back to her room, Hope got slightly distracted and ended up outside of Josie and Lizzie's room. She paced back and forth for a minute before deciding to knock on the door. 

Hope heard a loud thump before the door opened. Lizzie looked like she had just woken up. "Hi." she said.

"Hi... did I wake you up?" Hope asked.

"I was tossing and turning. I haven't seen you all day. I'm having a hard time getting to sleep." Lizzie answered.

"Oh, well... I'll let you try to sleep. I'm sorry to bother you." Hope turned to leave.

"Hope, wait." Lizzie grabbed Hope's hand. "I was wondering... uh, could you maybe stay in here again tonight?"

"Yeah." Hope replied, following Lizzie into the room and closing the door.

Hope walked over and sat on Josie's bed. It was crazy how much she missed the other girl. "Are you okay Hope?" Lizzie asked, breaking the silence.

Hope faked a smile. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" She lied.

Lizzie gave Hope a look. "Hope, I talked to MG. He told me about what happened between you and Landon." 

"Oh."

"Yeah. so are you going to tell me how you're really doing, or what?" Lizzie asked.

Hope sighed. "I don't know. I want to be mad at him, he was such a freaking jerk. But I know that this isn't his fault. I know that he didn't ask to be the literal son of an evil, all consuming pit of mud. But..." Hope stopped.

"But Josie." Lizzie finished.

Hope nodded. "We have to save her. And I can't let Landon, or anyone, get in the way of that."

"How do we save her? You mentioned that Landon's mother got out. Do you know how?" Lizzie asked.

"Malivore released her to give birth to Landon. I have a feeling that he's not going to just send Josie back to us." Hope replied.

"What if the answer is in the key?"

"What?"

"Landon. What if, because he's the last artifact, he's the key to getting Josie back?" Lizzie asked.

"That's actually plausible. Lizzie, you're a genius." Hope smiled.

"Yeah, I know." both girls laughed.

When Lizzie wasn't being a total bitch, she was actually super fun to be around. Hope wishes they could have been friends sooner. It felt good to laugh a little. It helped.

"I needed that. Thank you." Hope laughed.

"I know. This must be the hardest on you, because you're the only one who can actually remember her. I can't imagine what that must feel like. I just know that it makes me feel like the worst sister in the world. And you... you're amazing." Lizzie said, taking Hope by surprise.

"I'm not amazing. If you could remember, you'd know that Josie would be doing the same thing for me. Hell she'd do the same for anyone. Josie is so caring." Hope smiled as she remembered Josie. "She cares so much about everyone else's feelings and needs. Sometimes I think she tends to forget about her own feelings. She's getting better though..." Hope trailed off.

Thinking about Josie was making her sad. She had no idea how she was going to get Josie back.

"You know, I have something that might help you." Lizzie stood up and walked over to her desk.

She came back with a crystal object. "What is that?" Hope asked.

"Emma gave it to me to help me work out some of my issues. It projects your subconscious version of a person. I usually use it to talk to my mom, when I miss her. Or my dad, when he does something to piss me off." Lizzie explained.

"How does it work?"

"You just think about them and they're there. It's a little freaky at first. It's almost like they're really there. But it's basically just your subconscious' version of them."

Hope took the crystal. "Thank you Lizzie. This means a lot."

"You're welcome. I hope it helps." Lizzie smiled.

"So tomorrow do you want to go talk to your dad about Landon?" Hope asked.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

Shortly after, the two girls said their goodnights and headed to bed.

(The Next Morning)

Hope wakes up before Lizzie and decides to take the crystal to the clubhouse. Talking to Josie, or fake Josie or whatever, might help Hope figure out what to do.

Hope sat the crystal down, thinking about Josie.

"Hi." Hope heard her voice before she saw her.

"Josie." Hope whispered. "You look so... so real."

Hologram Josie laughed. Hope missed the sound of Josie's laugh. "So...?" Josie asked.

Hope didn't know where to start. "l miss you..." she whispered.

"I miss you too." Josie smiled. "So... why am I here?" she got straight to the point.

"I don't know how to get you back." Hope replied.

"That's not why I'm here." Josie shot back. 

"Yes it is!" Hope defended.

Hologram Josie shook her head. "Nope."

"What the hell do you mean, nope?" Hope asked.

"I mean that I am not here because you don't know how to save me."

Hope was getting angry. "How do you know why I brought you here?!"

Josie smirked. "I'm your subconscious version of Josie. I know everything that's running through your mind. Even the things you don't even realize yourself."

"Well do you want to clue me in here?"

"You already know. Why won't you just admit it?"

"Admit what?"

"You already know." Josie said again. "You are so freaking hard headed."

"Yeah well you're me too, so..." 

Both girls started laughing. Hope couldn't believe that she was basically having an argument with herself right now. Ridiculous.

"You should probably get back to the school. You and Lizzie have something to do this morning. But come back, when you realize what it is exactly that you want to talk to me about." Josie spoke.

Hope had almost forgotten about their meeting with Dr. Saltzman. "This conversation isn't over." 

Josie laughed before Hope deactivated the crystal and headed back towards the school.

She met Lizzie out front of Dr. Saltzman's office. "Hey, where did you go this morning?" Lizzie asked.

"I went down to the clubhouse to try to talk to Josie." Hope confessed.

"Oh yeah? How'd that go?" 

"Eh." Hope shrugged.

Lizzie chuckled. "That good huh?"

"I don't know. It was weird, she kinda yelled at me." 

Lizzie laughed. "You mean that you, yelled at you?"

Hope rolled her eyes as she opened the door to the office. "Shut up."

They walked into the office and Lizzie couldn't stop laughing.

"Seems like you two are getting along much better." Alaric commented upon seeing the two girls.

Hope rolled her eyes again, ignoring Dr. Saltzman's comment. "Have you learned anything new?" Hope asked.

"I haven't found out anything too hopeful. But I called Jeremy Gilbert and Bonnie Bennett, and they said that they were going to look into everything as well. I do have a couple of questions that could help." Dr. Saltzman stated.

"Questions about what?" Hope asked.

"So we all know that Lizzie is a siphoner right?" Alric asked.

"Yeah dad. Pretty sure we're aware." Lizzie said sarcastically.

Hope nodded. "Where are you going with this?"

"Well I was wondering... was Josie a siphon too?"

"Yes... she is." Hope put emphasis on the word 'is'.

"That could actually be really helpful." Dr. Saltzman began writing something down in his notebook.

"We also have an idea that could be helpful." Lizzie started. "Hope and I were talking last night and we were wondering if maybe Landon is the answer. Ya know, since he is the literal final artifact."

"And maybe, if I go into his subconscious like with the Necromancer, we might find out about Malivore." Hope added.

Dr. Saltzman nodded. "That's not a bad theory. Why don't you see if you can get Landon up here and we'll go from there."

Both girls stood up and left Alaric's office. "Are you going to be okay talking to Landon?" Lizzie asked out in the hall.

Hope took a deep breath before answering. "I have no idea. But if it's what I have to do to get Josie back, then it's what I have to do."

Lizzie nodded. "Okay well let me know if you need help with the Hobbit, I'm going to talk to the others. See if I can get them on board with all of this."

Hope smiled. "Good luck."

The girls went their separate ways. Hope took her time getting to Landon's room. She paced outside the door for a few minutes...this was becoming a habit... before finally knocking on the door.

"Hope?" Landon looked surprised when he answered the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Can we talk?" Hope asked quietly.

Landon opened his door wider to let Hope into the room. "Hope, are you okay?" Landon asked.

"I'm sorry Landon... for the way I've been acting lately. I shouldn't take my frustrations out on you." Hope apologized.

"I'm sorry too Hope. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did."

"Thank you for saying that. But you have every right to be mad at me. I just really need Josie back. It kills me that nobody can remember her. It should have been me. She needs me to find a way to save her. And because of that, I've been distant with you. You don't deserve that." Hope confessed.

"Hope? Can I ask you something?" Landon asked after Hope finished.

Hope nods.

"Do you even still have feelings for me?" Landon asked taking Hope by surprise.

There was a slight hesitation before Hope answered. "Landon." she had no idea what to say. "I care about you... so, so much. I just... I just..." 

"You're in love with someone else." Landon finished.

The room was quiet. Hope didn't know how to react. A single tear slid down Hope's cheek.

"Hey!" Landon moved closer to Hope. "Hey, it's okay. Don't cry Hope." he wiped away her tears.

"Yes, I'll admit that at first, I was super angry. Angry for the way that you were acting towards me. And how worried you were about who I thought, was a complete stranger. I talked to MG. He actually had some really good advice. As much as I love you, and would hate to lose you... I would rather have you in my life as a friend than not at all. I will always have your back and I will always support you. No matter what."

Hope couldn't hold back her tears anymore. She reached over and pulled Landon into a tight hug.

"Thank you." she cried.

"So? what do you need from me? What can I do to help?" Landon asked.

Hope finally got to the main reason she had come to see Landon. She was almost hesitant to ask, I mean they kind of did just break up. "Well... Lizzie, Dr. Saltzman, and I were talking, and we kinda came up with an idea that could help..."

"Just spit it out Mikaelson." Landon laughed, lightening up the mood.

"We... I was wondering if maybe you'd let me go into your subconscious to see what, if anything, we can find out about Malivore... I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important, and since you're Malivore's son and the last artifact it could be the key we need to save Josie." Hope rambled.

"Okay." Landon agreed.

Hope's mouth dropped open. She didn't think that he would agree so quickly. "Are... are you sure?"

"I meant everything I said. So, let's go get your girl back." Landon smirked.

Hope felt a blush creep up her cheeks.

Her girl.

Josie.

On their way back to Dr. Saltzman's office, Hope couldn't keep her mind off of Josie and the whole situation.

One question kept popping into her head. Just one.

What even was Josie thinking in the first place to jump into the Malivore pit?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate all of the comments and kudos, they mean so much to me. Please, comment and let me know what you all think. Next chapter will be Josie's POV and you'll all see how she ended up in the Malivore pit. Thank you again, and I hope you liked this chapter.


	6. They Won't Win

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josie's POV of what happened when the Super Squad went to save Landon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a little shorter than the others, but I really wanted Josie's POV on what happened and how she ended up in the pit. Thank you, as always, for reading. I appreciate all of the comments and kudos. You're all awesome! Hope you enjoy this chapter!

(Josie POV) - Flashback 

After the long drive, everyone was tired. Josie made her way to the room with Lizzie and Hope. They changed quickly, Hope got into her bed, and Josie climbed into bed with her sister.

Josie could not seem to fall asleep. Thoughts were keeping her awake. She heard Hope tossing and turning in her bed. Josie worried about the other girl. Hope had been through so much. They all had.

It was quiet, almost to quiet to hear, but Josie heard it. Hope was crying.

Josie squeezed her sister's hand before sliding out of bed and walking over to Hope's. Lizzie followed.

She moved the blankets and crawled into Hope's bed, pulling the other girl towards her. Lizzie climbed into the bed on the other side of Hope.

Josie started playing with Hope's hair. It was always comforting when Lizzie did it for her. Soon after, she felt Hope drift off to sleep. And shortly after that, Josie followed.

The next morning when Josie woke up, she was entangled with Hope. she blushed at the thought of Lizzie seeing them like this. So she slipped out of the bed. Careful not to wake up Hope.

Lizzie was already awake, getting dressed. Josie grabbed her clothes and started getting dressed herself.

Lizzie broke the silence. "So... you two looked pretty comfortable."

Josie turned red. "I can't control what happens when I'm asleep." she defended herself.

Josie saw her sister make a face, but chose to ignore it.

"Should we wake her up?" Lizzie motioned towards Hope.

"We should let her sleep. She needs it." Josie answered.

A short while later Hope shot up in the bed, looking extremely confused. "Well good morning sunshine." Josie winked at the other girl.

Really? A wink? Why? Josie thought to herself.

Lizzie, luckily for Josie, spoke up and told Hope that they wanted to let her sleep in.

Hope started talking about her nightmares, and that she was sorry.

Josie's heart ached for the other girl.

"Do not be sorry. It happens. And we were glad to be there for you... right Lizzie?" she looked to her sister for reassurance.

Lizzie agreed.

Hope had a small smile as she grabbed her clothes to get dressed.

Josie stayed pretty quiet as they made their way to the boy's room. They came up with a plan and made their way to a spot in the middle of the woods to park the van.

The group separated... Josie went with Hope, Lizzie, and Rafael.

Josie was suspicious of the lack of guards, but didn't say anything. Hope seemed adamant on getting Landon.

They found Landon tied up in a huge room with a pit of mud, or tar, in the middle of it. That must be the Malivore pit.

Hope ran to Landon and they untied the boy. Josie couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy at the sight in front of her. 

Ryan Clark, the guy from the whole mummy/urn incident, showed up and started talking.

Then some guards showed up. Dragging MG, Kaleb, and her father. Josie had to fight the violent urge to run to them.

Lizzie, on the other hand, screamed and tried to run to their father. Josie quickly grabbed her sisters hand to try to stop her. She couldn't go to them, not yet.

Ryan Clarke went on to talk about how the Triad had supposedly infiltrated the Salvatore school, looking for the third artifact. Then he shot the guards holding up MG, Kaleb, and her father.

Then, and only then, did Josie let go of her sister so that they could go check on their father.

Josie hears Clarke call Landon his brother and they find out that Malivore was Golem... and apparently Ryan and Landon's father.

That was when shit hit the fan.

Alarms started going off, guards swarmed the room, and an all out brawl broke out.

Josie saw Hope fighting and kicking ass. She couldn't deny it, it was so hot to see Hope like this. Like, so hot.

Focus Josie.

She shook the thoughts from her head quickly and siphoned magic from her necklace joining the fight.

Out of the corner of her eye, Josie saw a guard coming up behind Hope. She ran as fast as she could and tackled the guard to the ground.

Hope turned around, ready to help Josie. That was when she heard Landon calling for Hope, he was by the exit.

Josie saw Hope take a step towards her. She used magic to fling the guard across the room, and turned back to Hope. "No! Go!"

Hope looks like she wants to stay and fight. But instead, she runs out with Landon.

The fight continued and Josie looked around the room at her friends and family. They were losing. How were they losing? This couldn't be happening.

"NOOOO!" Josie screamed, releasing a great deal of magic. Everyone flew back and hit the ground.

Josie looked around. "We have to get out of here!" she yelled at her friends and family.

Everyone took off towards the exit. Lizzie was in the back. Josie saw Ryan Clarke moving towards her sister.

Her mind went blank. She couldn't let him get to her sister. She wouldn't.

Everything that had been happening hit Josie all at once. Penelope leaving. Re-killing her biological mother. Being buried alive. Her new friends. Her mother. Her father. Lizzie. Hope... Hope! She could stop this. She could make this all better. 

Using magic, Josie threw Clarke across the room.

Lizzie turned to see what was going on. "Go! I'm right behind you."

Lizzie ran to the exit. Josie was about to follow when Ryan Clarke stood up, laughing. "You'll never win."

"You don't know what you're talking about." Josie shot.

"You'll lose. And everyone you love will die. Your parents. Your sister. All of your friends. Anyone you've ever cared about. Dead. Hope. Dead." his last words stopped Josie in her tracks.

Josie knew what she had to do. It was the only way to save everyone, to save Hope. This was either going to be the best... or the worst decision she had ever made. "You'll be the one who loses. They're going to come back, destroy Malivore and all traces of the Triad. It's inevitable... too bad you won't be around to see it."

Clarke's smirk faltered. "What are you talking about?"

"This." Josie ran at Ryan Clarke with all of the speed she could muster. She grabbed him by the shirt and dove into the Malivore pit, dragging him with her. 

Her last thought before being consumed by the darkness... was of Hope.


	7. We Will Get Her Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry it's been a while since I've updated. I've been working 75+ hours a week at work! Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. And as always, thank you for reading!!!

When Hope and Landon made it back to Dr. Saltzman's office, MG, Lizzie, and Rafael were already there.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You don't have to if you don't want to." Rafael spoke to Landon.

Hope turned to give Rafael a dirty look. But it was Lizzie who actually spoke first. "We have to get my sister back, and if the Hobbit... sorry, Landon... wants to help, then you need to shut the hell up and let him. This is my sister, your friend we are talking about. So if you don't want to help then get the hell out, because we don't need you here."

Hope was shocked, yet again. Lizzie was sticking up for her sister, even if she didn't remember her. It was a little crazy to see Lizzie fight for Josie more now, than when she was actually here. Hope was slightly impressed.

"Lizzie's right. Josie was one of us, and even though we may not remember her... we need to do everything we can to get her back." Landon followed up.

Hope was so thankful for Landon in that moment. He really was a good guy, even if he did get a little confused and off track sometimes.

Landon sat in one of the chairs as Hope came up behind him.

MG and Hope did the same thing they had done when they went into the Necromancer's mind.

At first, Hope saw nothing. Then flashes. Flashes of death. Flashes of pain. And then.. nothingness. An empty void. Hope started to scream. She couldn't get out.

Then, it was as if she was being dragged out, dragged back into the light. Hope woke up screaming. Her friends all surrounded her. "Hope! Hope, what happened?" Lizzie shouted.

Hope couldn't stop crying. This was all too much. She ran out of the room.

She ran out into the corridor, dropped to her knees and sobbed.

"Hope?" she heard Lizzie come up behind her. Lizzie sat down on the floor next to Hope. "Hope, what did you see?" she asked.

Hope looked up at her friend. "Lizzie we have to get her out of there. This is so bad." was all she could bring herself to say.

"We will get her back Hope." Lizzie reassured.

"How Lizzie? How the hell are we going to get her back?" Hope started to freak out. "I've seen where she's at Lizzie. It's not good. And nobody can freaking figure any of this out! So tell me, how in the hell are we supposed to do this?"

Hope knew she shouldn't yell at Lizzie, she was only trying to help. "No! That's not good enough Hope. You don't get to give up. Not now. You need to get your ass up and we need to do something. We will get Josie back, even if it means that I have to siphon all of Malivore just to do it!" Lizzie snapped back.

"Lizzie! That's it!" Hope jumped to her feet.

Lizzie looked surprised. "What's it?"

"Follow me!" Hope grabbed Lizzie's hand and they ran back to Dr. Saltzman's office.

Everyone was still in the room. Talking to each other. Trying to figure out what the hell Hope had seen.

"Hope! Are you okay?" Landon asked when he saw her.

"I'm fine. But I think I have an idea." Hope stated.

"We are all ears." Dr. Saltzman stated.

"So I was talking to Lizzie... and what if the twins could siphon all of the magic from Malivore?" Hope suggested.

"I thought of that too. But that would require Lizzie to jump in the pit. What if it doesn't work? I can't risk losing another daughter. I'm sorry." Dr. Saltzman replied.

"Dr. Saltzman. This will work. It's the only option we have. Unless anyone else has any bright ideas?" Hope questioned, looking around the room.

Dr. Saltzman sighed, he knew that there were no other options. "Fine. But I'm calling in backup. We are going to need all of the help that we can get." He stated. "I suggest you all get some training in. This isn't going to be some walk in the park."

Hope watched as her friends nodded in agreement. Rafael and Kaleb offered to work with MG and Landon, while Lizzie and Hope headed back to the twins' room.

"So, I think I'm going to try to talk to Hologram Josie again." Hope said nonchalantly.

Lizzie smirked. "Oh yeah? Gonna go argue with yourself again?" she joked.

Hope rolled her eyes and flipped Lizzie off as she walked out of the room.

Hope activated the crystal once she got to the clubhouse. Hologram Josie appeared in front of her.

Hope spoke first. "We're coming to save you." she confessed.

Josie started to laugh. God, Hope really missed that laugh. "oh really?"

"Yes. We have a plan." Hope replied.

Josie nodded. "Okay. So did you ever figure out what it was that you wanted to tell me?"

"I just told you. We're coming to save you." hope said.

"Wow." Josie laughed. "You really are stubborn."

"No." Hope could feel herself getting angry again. "I just have no idea what you think you're talking about."

"Yes. You do."

"No. I don't."

"Yes you do Hope! I'm part of you remember? You can't lie t me. So... come on. Out with it."

Hope snapped. "What do you want to hear? You want to hear how bad I've missed you? How every second you're gone, I feel so sick to my stomach? How I would literally do anything to get you back? And if this plan doesn't work... I would die? I would die Josie! I would die if anything happened and you didn't come home! I love you, and if you died, I would die!" she freaked out.

Hologram Josie just smirked.

"What is with that smug look? God, you are so infuriating!"

"Did you even hear what you just said?" Josie asked.

"What?!" Then it hit her. Hope could feel herself turning red. She loves Josie? "Holy shit..."

Hologram Josie laughs again. "See... now you get it." she said before disappearing, leaving Hope alone with her thoughts.

Hope always knew that she had feelings for Josie, but love? it genuinely took her by surprise.

Hope grabbed the prism and headed back up to Lizzie's room.

"Hey. How'd it go? Argue with yourself again?" Lizzie joked.

"No. Well, maybe a little bit. But I figured some things out. Thank you for this." Hope said handing back the prism.

Lizzie gave Hope a knowing smile. "Any time." she winked.

"Im going to call my aunt Freya. maybe she'd be willing to help." Hope said.

"Okay. I'm going to go down and train a little with the boys. Feel free to stay in here if you want. Having you in here has been nice." Lizzie confessed.

Hope smiled. "Thank you for letting me stay in here. It helps me, more than you know."

"Okay. I'm going to get going. Be back in a bit." Lizzie said leaving the room.

Hope had asked Alaric to use the school phone to call her aunt Freya. Keelin answered. "Hope? Are you okay?" she asked.

"Is my aunt Freya there? I really needed her help with something." Hope asked.

"Yeah hun. I'll go get her." Keelin said quickly.

It was quiet for a moment, then Freya spoke. "Hope, what's going on?" she sounded worried.

"I need your help" Hope explained everything to her aunt and hoped that she would be able to come and help.

When Hope finally finished explaining the entire situation, she waited for her aunt to reply. "You really care about this girl... Josie?" Freya asked.

"So much." Hope replied.

"I'll help. I'll talk to Keelin and explain the situation to her. I'll be at your school tomorrow evening. I love you Hope. Everything will be okay." They said goodbye and Hope hung up the phone.

After her talk with her aunt, Hope took the school phone back to Dr. Saltzman and asked if she could go for a run. Which he said yes to.

After running for a while, Hope decided to head back to the school and take a shower before going back to the twins' room.

Lizzie was sitting on her bed reading when Hope walked in. "How was training?" Hope asked.

"Rough. How did the call with your aunt go?" 

"She's going to help. She said she would be here tomorrow." Hope replied.

"That's great! So... I was wondering, do you think that you could teach me some offensive magic? I just... I feel like I'm going to be useless out there, ya know?" Lizzie asked hesitantly.

"First of all, you will most definitely not be useless. Second, of course I can teach you some things. Maybe we can get up early tomorrow and practice some down by the clubhouse." Hope suggested.

"Sounds great! Thank you Hope!" Lizzie said with a huge smile.

"I have some of my aunts grimoirs... if you want to read some of them with me? You know, study a bit before tomorrow? It might be helpful." Hope asked.

Lizzie's face lit up. "Seriously? I would love that!" 

Hope couldn't help but laugh. She got up and ran to her room really quick to grab them and was back within minutes."

The two girls spent the rest of the night reading the old grimoirs and bouncing ideas off of each other. It was nearly three in the morning when Lizzie realized how late it was and suggested that they go to bed if they were still going to wake up early the next morning.

It was also Lizzie, who woke Hope up at seven in the morning, ready to train.

Hope was surprised at how quickly Lizzie had picked up on the spells that they had studied the night before. She was a natural.

After a while of practicing offensive spells, Hope was starting to tire down. It looked like Lizzie was too. "Do you want to go see my dad? Find out what the plan actually is?" Lizzie asked, confirming Hope's suspicions.

Hope nodded and followed Lizzie back to the school.

Alaric was walking into his office when the girls got there. "Hi daddy." Lizzie said.

"Hey baby. You two get any sleep last night? You both look wiped out." he asked.

"Yeah. Hope was just teaching me a few of the offensive spells that could be really useful." Lizzie replied.

"Well okay then." He didn't look very happy.

"So do we have any kind of plan yet?" Lizzie got straight to the point.

"I do actually." The girls followed Alaric into his office and sat down. "So I have Roman, Jeremy, and Dorian casing out Triad. Studying their movements and guard rotations. Stuff like that. Once we get there we'll separate into three groups again to infiltrate the building. Bonnie Bennett, Jeremy, MG, Kaleb: group one. Freya, Dorian, Roman, and Rafael: Group two. You two, Landon, and myself: group three..."

"And where does that leave us?" a voice came from behind them.

"Mom!!" Lizzie hopped up and ran over to hug her mother.

"Caroline? What are you doing here?" Dr. Saltzman asked, surprised.

"Well... me and Penelope..." she stepped aside to let Penelope into the room, taking everyone by surprise. "Were in Europe together... and then out of nowhere, neither of us could remember exactly why we were there." Caroline explained.

"The merge..." Hope said. All eyes turned towards her. "I remember Dr. Saltzman saying something about you being in Europe looking for a cure for the merge. I just didn't know that Penelope was there too." Hope explained.

"Why would Penelope be helping Caroline with the Merge?" Dr. Saltzman asked.

Everyone looked slightly confused. Then it hit her... "Josie..."

"Who?" Penelope and Caroline asked at the same time.

Dr. Saltzman looked at Hope and Lizzie. "You girls take Penelope and explain the situation. I think that Caroline and I are going to need a few minutes."

Lizzie hugged her mother one more time before the three girls took their exit.

"What the hell is even going on here? And since when are you two friends?" Penelope asked as soon as they got into the hall."

Hope looked to Lizzie. She was unsure how to even begin this conversation.

Luckily for Hope, Lizzie took one for the team and began explaining what had happened to Penelope. When Lizzie finished, Penelope stayed quiet. At least for a second.

"What the hell? I don't remember any of that. How? How do you just forget someone you care so much about that you travel half way around the world just to save?" Penelope was angry.

Hope felt a pang of jealousy and made a face. Lizzie must have noticed because she moved closer to Hope, giving her a reassuring smile.

"tomorrow we are going to get her back. It's going to be dangerous, there's no guarantee that this will even work. But if you want to help, we can run over the whole plan with you..." Hope finally spoke.

As jealous as she was of Penelope, she knew that the other witch would be an asset.

And of course, Penelope jumped at the opportunity to help.

Lizzie and Hope gave Penelope a run down of what their plan was when they reached Triad. They told her that they would be leaving later on that day. If she wanted to go and get her stuff ready.

Penelope told the two girls she'd meet them downstairs and ran off to her room.

"Are you okay?" lizzie asked Hope.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hope replied.

"You sure about that Hope? You kinda look like crap..."

Hope was about to open her mouth to argue, but someone spoke before she could. "Your friend is right Little Wolf. You look like crap." she turned around to see her aunt Freya at the end of the hallway.

"Freya!" Hope ran to her aunt and pulled her into a tight hug. She was so glad that her aunt was able to help. Hope wouldn't admit it, but she missed her family terribly.

"Your aunt Keelin told me to tell you hi and that she misses you. And she's sorry that she couldn't be here to help." Freya said.

"It's okay. I'm just glad that you are here. Dr. Saltzman is in his office with the twins' mom, if you want to go let them fill you in some more on the plan." Hope suggested.

Freya kissed Hope's forehead, said goodbye to the girls, and headed towards Dr. Saltzman's office.

"Why don't we go back to my room? You can lay down and get some rest?" Lizzie suggested.

Hope nodded, following Lizzie up to her room. Hope climbed into Josie's bed and pulled the blankets over herself. The room was quiet until Hope heard Lizzie whisper. "Hope?"

"yeah." Hope replied.

"Are you going to tell her?" Lizzie asked.

Hope sat up in the bed and looked over to Lizzie. "What are you talking about?" she asked, very confused.

Lizzie made a face. "Look, I'm not dumb. You have feelings for my sister, strong ones. I may not be able to remember my sister, but you told me that she confessed to having a crush on you..."

"Yeah, years ago." Hope interrupted.

Lizzie shook her head. "Hope. I don't think that her feelings are one sided. You just can't admit it. But I think that you need to tell her. When we save her... and we will."

Hope couldn't face her friend. Josie still had feelings for Penelope. And Penelope literally went half way around the world just to save Josie from the merge. Hope couldn't compare with that. 

"You know, maybe we should go help the others get ready. My aunt Freya rented a car so that we don't all have to cram into the van." Hope changed the subject.

Lizzie sighed. "Alright fine." the two girls headed back down to help pack up the supplies.

Once everyone was ready, Hope, Caroline, Lizzie, and Penelope climbed into Freya's car... while everyone else got into Alaric's van.

Hope was not ready for the long drive. She just wanted to be there already. Hope fell asleep quickly. 

She dreamed of the blackness. Of not being able to find Josie. She screamed Josie's name. Over and over again. She screamed until her throat was on fire. That was when she heard it... heard her. Josie, calling her name.

"Hope." It was so quiet. "Hope!" a little louder. "HOPE!!" she ran toward the voice. She had to find her. She had to.

"Hope? Hope wake up." Wake up? What? "Hope, we're here."

Hope's eyes opened. She was in the back seat. It was Lizzie who had been calling her name. Waking her up to tell her that they had made it to their destination.

She got out of the car to stretch her legs. Lizzie and Penelope right behind her.

Hope noticed Landon pulling Dr. Saltzman off to the side to talk to him. She wondered what they were talking about.

A few minutes later Dr. Saltzman and Landon joined the rest of the group. They stuck to their plan and everyone separated into groups. Hope and Lizzie ended up with Penelope, Landon, and Alaric. Bonnie and Freya used their magic to help them all sneak in as quietly as possible.

There were a lot more guards than the last time they were here. But with all of the backup they had brought, it was much easier to fight.

They almost made it back to the pit when a big group of guards showed up. Landon and Alaric started fighting. "Run girls, save Josie!" Dr. Saltzman yelled.

Hope didn't question it. She grabbed Lizzie's hand as they ran towards the pit. Penelope right behind them.

The three girls made it to the pit quickly. "You ready for this?" Lizzie asked.

"We have to be... for Josie." Hope grabbed both Lizzie and Penelope's hands. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes... all three girls jumped into the pit together.

Into the blackness.

When Hope opened her eyes everything was dark. She could feel Lizzie and Penelope's hands, but could not see them. She mumbled a quick spell, lighting up the area surrounding the three girls.

"We made... AHHH" Lizzie dropped to the ground, holding her head.

"Lizzie!" Hope shouted, dropping to her knees in front of her friend.

"Ow, shit!" Penelope dropped as well, also holding her head.

"What the hell is going on?" Hope freaked out. Both girls stopped screaming at the same time and their eyes opened back up.

"Hope!" Lizzie gasped. "I remember... I remember everything."

"Me too. We have to find Josie..." Penelope said.

Lizzie and Penelope stood up quickly and walked with Hope. They looked for Josie. Taking turns calling her name.

It was Hope who saw her first. She stopped in her tracks, unsure if her mind was playing tricks on her. "Josie?" Hope called.

Josie was on the ground, knees to her chest, head in her hands. "Josie..." Hope touched the other girls shoulder.

Josie jerked her head around. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here!" she almost sounded angry. "I was supposed to be the hero this time."

"Well too bad." Penelope spoke.

Josie looked surprised to see Penelope there. Penelope moved closer to Josie and pulled her into a hug. Hope's stomach turned and heart stopped. Jealousy ran through her.

She must have made a face, because Lizzie stepped forward and grabbed Hope's hand. Squeezing lightly, just enough to let her know that she was there.

"So... we have a plan. We are going to siphon all of the magic from Malivore." Lizzie interjected.

"We're going to what?" Josie asked. Bewilderment written all over her face.

Hope opened her mouth to speak, but before any words could come out, there was a loud crashing noise and everything around them began to shake. "What the hell is that?"

The girls start looking around, but see nothing. Then she sees him, slowly coming into view. "Landon? What are you doing here?"

"Your plan." There was another crashing noise. "It's not going to work. So... I came up with a plan of my own. You're not going to like it." he confessed.

"What are you talking about? Does Dr. Saltzman know that you're here? Does Rafael?" Hope asked confused.

Landon smiles softly. "Dr. Saltzman was not a fan of this idea... He really wanted your plan to work. But the fear of it not, the fear of losing his daughters forever, of losing you... made him see things a little more clearly. He swore he could do whatever it takes to destroy Malivore for good..." There was another loud crash, interrupting Landon.

Hope looked over at the twins and Penelope, who were holding each other for dear life. They looked terrified. Then she looked back to Landon. "We're not leaving you here."

"No, you're not. But I am getting you out of here. All of you. We're running out of time." Landon replied.

"running out of time for what?" Hope asked.

"He's the vessel..." Ryan Clarke came out of nowhere.

Hope had to fight the violent urge to rip his head off right then and there. "What the hell are you doing here?" she growled through clenched teeth.

"That's what you're concerned about right now?" Ryan laughed.

He was right, now was not the time. She turned back to Landon. "You can't do this. We will find another way." 

"Hope..." 

She knew deep down that it was the only way. Landon had to free Malivore for them all to be able to escape. In order to do that, Landon had to die. Hope began to cry. She may not have 'those' feelings for Landon, but she still cared for him deeply.

She walked over and put her arms around Landon. "We will get you back. I promise." she cried.

Hope turned to see the other three girls, walking towards them, crying. Josie hugged Landon next, surprising Hope. "Thank you Landon. We won't stop fighting until we get you back." Landon smiled softly.

Lizzie hugged him next. "You know, you're not so bad. For a hobbit." she joked, getting a chuckle out of everyone.

Penelope was last. "I owe you a drink... when we get you back." she hugged Landon too. "It's hero time..."

Landon smiled. "It's hero time." he looked to Hope. "Do it... please."

Tears streamed down Hope's face. She gently placed her hands on either side of Landon's face.

She closed her eyes and *snap*

There was a blinding light, thunder booming, everything shaking. Hope felt someone grab her hand... then an explosion.

Hope shot up, eyes wide open. After being in the dark, the light hurts her eyes. She looks around, Landon is gone. The Malivore pit is just an empty crater now.

Josie is still holding Hope's hand. She refuses to let go.

Until they are practically tackled by their friends and family.

Caroline and Ric practically smother the twins and Josie is forced to let go of Hope's hand.

Freya runs over to Hope and pulls her into a tight hug.

After a few moments, Lizzie speaks up. "So... what now?"

Everyone looks to Hope. "We go home. We regroup. We find a way to destroy Malivore once and for all. And we save Landon."


	8. Broken

(Josie POV)

After the smoke cleared and everyone made it back to the rendezvous point, everyone piled into the separate vehicles to head home. Lizzie held onto Josie's hand for dear life.

They got into Hope's aunt's car, Lizzie sat in the middle, never letting go of Josie's hand.

For the first time ever, Josie didn't feel carsick on the ride home. She saw her sister dozing off. No sleep. Not for Josie.

Just the thought of closing her eyes made Josie think she was going to have a panic attack. The darkness just reminded her of her time in Malivore.

She would never tell the others, but what was only a couple of days to them, were what felt like years to Josie.

Josie looked over at her sister and Hope. They were holding hands and Hope had her head rested on Lizzie's shoulder.

Josie made a face. The seemed awful close... what was that all about?

What exactly had happened while Josie was away?

She would have to wait until they got home to get that answer.

Nobody made a sound the entire ride back to the school. Josie was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for someone to yell at her for being so reckless.

It didn't happen. At least not yet.

When they got back to the school, Hope walked with her aunt back to her room. Or at least that was where Josie assumed they were going.

Josie followed her parents and sister to her father's office.

That's when the other shoe drops.

"What in the hell were you thinking Josette?" 

"Why would you jump in the Malivore pit?" 

"What if we wouldn't have been able to bring you back?"

"You could have been stuck in there forever!"

Her parents took turns yelling at her.

Josie grit her teeth. She wanted to yell back. But instead she kept her mouth shut, as per usual.

Lizzie, however, did not. "No! You two do not get to yell at her! Up until a few hours ago neither of you even remembered who she is. Josie did what she thought was right. And you don't have to like it, but you will understand that it was her choice to make." She turned to look at Josie and grabbed her sister's hand. "Come on Jo."

Josie was in shock. She had never seen her sister stick up for her that way. She followed Lizzie out of the office and up to their room.

Josie went to sit on Lizzie's bed. Lizzie sits behind her and starts playing with Josie's hair.

Josie closed her eyes. This felt amazing. "Lizzie?" she asked after a moment.

"Yeah Jo?"

"What happened while I was gone? How did you even know where I was? I feel like there's so much I missed. Like when did you and Hope get so close, and why did Penelope come back?" Josie had a lot of questions.

"Well... right after we saved Landon from Triad, Hope had a huge breakdown as we were trying to leave." Lizzie started.

"Why?"

"Because we were leaving you... but none of us remembered. Except Hope. She never forgot. Not for one second. She never stopped fighting. She pushed every one of us until we agreed to come rescue you. this was all basically her plan." Lizzie explained some more.

"Why would she do that? Try so hard?"

"You know... she talked to you while you were gone... I mean sort of." Lizzie grabbed the prism and showed her sister.

"Wait... Hope used this? Seriously?" Josie asked surprised.

"Yeah she did. A couple of times actually."

"What did she talk to me about?"

"Now that, I don't know. That's something you'll have to ask yourself." Lizzie shrugged.

Now she was even more curious. What could Hope possibly have to talk to her about?"

(Hope POV)

Hope was in her room with Freya, pacing back and forth nervously.

"Hope. Are you okay?" Freya asked, snapping her out of whatever trance she was in.

"I don't... I don't know. I don't know how I feel. I mean Landon, he sacrificed everything to get Josie back. He was a good person and a great friend. And I feel so bad, so fucking bad for not being able to reciprocate his feelings. I don't know." Hope was upset.

"What happened? I mean last time we spoke it sounded like you had strong feelings for Landon." Freya asked.

Hope looked at the floor. "There's someone else, isn't there?" Freya asked knowingly.

Hope had no idea how to answer her aunt. Lucky for her, Freya was very intuitive. "Josie?"

Hope nods her head and Freya walks over to pull her niece in for a hug. "Does she know about your feelings?"

Hope jerked away from her aunt. "Absolutely not! She can never find out!"

"Why not? What if she likes you back?" Freya asked.

"She doesn't. Trust me. I'm pretty sure she still has feelings for her ex-girlfriend. And Penelope literally went half way around the world just to save Josie's life. I don't deserve her anyways..." Hope wandered off.

"Oh Little Wolf..." Freya grabs Hope's hands. "You'll never know how she feels unless you put yourself out there. You deserve to be happy. Your father... and your mother would want you to be happy." 

Hope began to cry. Freya pulled her into a tight hug.

Freya and Hope talked for a little while longer, then unfortunately had to say goodbye. Freya said she needed to get home to her wife. But right before she left, Freya leaned in and whispered something in her niece's ear.

Hope climbed into bed, but found that she could not sleep. She was so used to being in Josie's bed, that it didn't feel right being in her own. 

All night Hope tossed and turned. All she could think about were Freya's last words to her before she left. 

"She feels the same for you Little Wolf... so be brave."

(Josie POV)

Josie was laying in bed with her sister, not able to sleep at all. She pulled the blankets up to her face for comfort.

They smelled different than she remembered. Not bad though. Actually really good. Almost like... Oh god... her blankets smelled like Hope.

"Lizzie?" Josie whispered. "Are you awake?"

Lizzie groaned. "Yes."

"Was uh... was Hope in our room? You know... like when I was gone" Josie asked.

Lizzie sits up in the bed. "Well yeah..."

"What? Why? Is there something going on between the two of you?" Josie started jumping to conclusions.

Lizzie scoffed. "No loser. She slept in your bed the whole time you were gone. And I slept over there. In my own bed. Far from Hope."

Now Josie was even more confused. "Why would she do that?"

Lizzie rolled her eyes and turned over in the bed. "You and Hope really need to get your shit in order.."

What was that supposed to mean?

Josie had to face it, if she wanted to know anything, she would need to figure it out herself. She also realized that she was never going to get to sleep.

Josie slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake up her now sleeping sister.

She tiptoed out of the room as quietly as she could. Then she made her way outside and towards the clubhouse. 

It was her safe space. Her favorite place. She sat out there thinking, all night. The sun started to come up and Josie still hadn't slept a bit.

"Jo? What are you doing out here? Everyone is freaking out, looking for you." Hope's voice came from behind her.

"Shit! I didn't think anyone would even notice I was gone." 

Hope started laughing. "Are you serious?"

Josie thought about everything that had happened and realized her mistake. She started laughing too. "Shit... I should probably get back up there."

"Yeah probably a good idea. Lizzie is kind of losing her shit." Hope told her.

Josie stood up and started to walk back to the school. She stopped and turned, Hope was still standing in the same spot she had been. Josie held her hand out. "Are you coming?"

Hope smiled softly and took Josie's hand as they walked back to the school together. 

"Oh my god Josie! where have you been? I woke up and you were gone!" Lizzie ran to Josie as soon as she saw her sister.

"I was just down at the clubhouse. I didn't mean to scare you." Josie replied.

"Josette, Elizabeth. There you two are. Your mother and I need to speak with you." Their father came down the stairs.

Josie turned to follow her father but was stopped by Hope. "Hey um..." Hope started to turn red. "Can you come by the clubhouse later, after you're done? There's something I would like to talk to you about."

"Yeah of course." Josie smiled before she followed her sister and her father to his office. Their mother was in there waiting.

"Girls, have a seat. We would like to talk to you about something." their father told them.

But Josie already knew what was happening. She turned to look at her mother. "You're leaving again... aren't you?"

Lizzie jerked her head towards their mother as well. "Already? But you just got home!"

"Yes, I know girls. And it kills me to leave you both again. But, as you both now know... I've been trying to find a loophole for the Merge. Before we forgot about you Josie, Penelope Park and I were following up on a lead that seemed especially promising. It could be what we have been searching for this whole time... It could be..."

"how long?" Lizzie interrupted. 

"Hopefully, if this all goes well, we should only be gone for a couple of weeks this time." Caroline told her daughters.

"We?" Josie asked.

"Ms. Park will be accompanying me on this trip. We are leaving in a few hours." Caroline replied.

Her mother was leaving. Penelope was leaving. Everyone seemed to be leaving.

Josie turned to run out of her fathers office, her family calling her name behind her. She didn't stop until she got to her destination. Josie knocked on the bedroom door. 

"Josie. What are you doing here?" Penelope asked when she opened the door.

"Why did you lie to me about the school? And why didn't you ever tell me about the Merge, which you obviously knew about?" Josie asked angrily.

"I didn't think that it was my place to tell you about the Merge. But everything I did, was to help prepare you... just in case. And I had been researching the Merge and found something useful. I practically blackmailed your mother to let me come and help her." Penelope explained.

"I don't understand... we aren't together anymore. Why are you still fighting for me?" Josie asked.

Penelope sighed. "Look, I know I messed up, pushed you away. And I know that we are never getting back together... ever. But I am still going with your mother. We are going to find a way out of the Merge. Because I will always love you, even if you're in love with someone else. I just want you to be safe... happy." she confessed.

"In love with who..."

Penelope laughed. "Go. Spend time with your mother before we leave. You'll figure it all out." 

Josie left Penelope's room, even more confused than when she had gotten there in the first place.

Slowly, Josie made it back to her fathers office. She sat with her mother and sister. Just hanging out and talking. Trying not to think about her mother leaving... again.

When it came time for her mother to leave, Josie felt the sadness wash over her. Even though she knew it was for a good reason, it killed Josie to see her mother leave again.

"I love you girls. And I will be back soon. I promise." Caroline pulled the girls into a tight hug before getting into the car and driving off with Penelope.

Josie followed her sister to the lounge area. MG, Kaleb, Jed, and a few others were already sitting there. 

There wasn't a whole lot of talking going on and it seemed a bit morose. Lizzie shook her head. "No. Listen, I know we have had a lot going on, but we can't just roll over like this. We need to do something fun even if it's just for one night. Just one night. No stress. No monsters. Just... fun."

"Lizzie's right." MG spoke up.

"We could have a party tonight." Jed suggested.

"Perfect!" Lizzie turned towards Josie. "I'm going to invite Hope. I'll meet you back in the room!"

"Great..." Josie mumbled to herself before turning to walk back to her room.

Josie wasn't exactly excited about the party. But who knows, maybe this was exactly what Josie needed.

(Hope POV)

Hope sat at her desk, drawing quietly when she heard someone urgently knocking on her bedroom door. The knocks got louder the longer it took her to get over to the door. When she opened the door, Lizzie Saltzman was standing there with a huge smile on her face.

"Shit Lizzie, you had me thinking there was something wrong, knocking like that." Hope sighed.

"No, I just came to tell you that we are having a party tonight. Everything has been so crazy lately and everyone has been on edge. So, we've all decided we need one night, just one night to have fun and blow off steam... at least until the chaos continues." Lizzie explained.

"Pass." Hope turned to walk back to her desk.

"Um, never pass on a party!" Lizzie exclaimed.

"I don't think that I am in the mind set for a party." She told her friend.

Before Lizzie could reply, there was another knock on her bedroom door. "Expecting someone?"

Hope shook her head going to answer the door. "Josie!" Hope had totally forgotten that she had asked Josie to meet up with her. 

"Jo? What are you doing here? I thought that you were going to get ready." Lizzie asked.

"I thought that I would come see if you needed help convincing Hope to come to the party." Josie said quickly.

"Hope says she's not really feeling a party." Lizzie told her sister.

Josie turned to look at Hope. "Please come."

Hope sighed. "Okay, fine."

Lizzie got excited. "Great! Jo and I will go get ready! We'll see you down at the clubhouse in like an hour or so?" she grabbed Josie's hand and practically skipped out of the room.

Hope shook her head. What had she just gotten herself into?

A little over an hour later Hope made her way to the clubhouse. it looked like over half the school was there. "Shit..." she whispered to herself.

Hope started looking around, searching for a familiar face. Finally she sees Josie, talking to MG. She's laughing about something MG said. Hope smiled, Josie is so stunning, she can't help herself.

"Why don't you go talk to her." Lizzie basically materialized out of thin air, scaring the shit out of Hope.

"Damn it Lizzie. You can't just sneak up on people like that!" Hope jumped. 

"You should go talk to her." Lizzie said again.

"She's talking to MG."

"Hope.. please just talk to her. She won't talk to me..." Lizzie said quietly.

"Maybe she's not ready to ta..."

"She hasn't slept since we got her back. She looks like crap. I heard her crying to herself when she thought she was alone. I know my sister and everything is really getting to her. Our mom leaving. Being trapped in Malivore. Landon.."

"Penelope." Hope added.

Lizzie rolled her eyes. "I'm going to tell you this exactly one time, Josie is over Satan In a Crop Top. Like over over. You just need to grow some balls and knock off your shit."

"Dramatic." Hope rolled her eyes.

"Hi Hope. Lizzie." Josie must have seen the two talking, because she had made her way over.

"Hi Josie." Hope replied.

"Oh! I think MG is calling me. Bye!" Lizzie ran off. 

An almost awkward silence surrounded the two girls. "So I..." Both girls started at the same time.

"Sorry you go.." they did it again.

Both girls let out a small laugh.

Hope let Josie speak first. "Thank you... for not giving up, and fighting for me."

"You're welco..."

"You shouldn't have done it." Josie interrupted.

Hope was taken aback. "Are you kidding?" she was angry. Josie had to be kidding.

"No. I'm not Hope. This is all just a huge circle of mess. First Landon, then me, and now Landon again. You should have just left me in there until you found an actual way to defeat Malivore." Josie replied. 

Hope was seething. She did not just go through hell to save Josie just for her to act like this. "I saw a glimpse of the hell you were in. Just a glimpse and it was traumatizing. I couldn't stand it for just the few minutes that I was in there. I can't see how you dealt with it for days. I couldn't bear to leave you in there, not for one more second!" She practically yelled. 

It was quiet.

"Have you even slept at all?" Hope asked.

Josie looked down. "No." She whispered.

"Now do you see why I had to save you? Imagine being stuck in there longer!" Hope was still mad.

Josie's head shot up. "No! You don't get to make me feel bad!"

"I don't want you to feel bad Josie. I would never want to do that. I just want you to get better. You were in literal hell and all I wanted to do was save you!"

"Yeah well you saved me and lost your boyfriend instead. How do you think that makes me feel?" Josie shot back.

"He's not my boyfriend. We broke up... while you were in Malivore..." Hope confessed.

Josie made a face, Hope tried to decipher what it meant. "You look like you two could use some drinks." Lizzie interrupted holding two cups.

She handed one to Hope and one to Josie. Both girls took a drink. Josie downed her whole cup. "I need another." She walked off. 

"What the hell happened Mikaelson?" Lizzie looked at Hope.

"I don't even know." Hope sighed, drinking the rest of her drink. "But I think I preferred talking to Hologram Josie."

Lizzie sighed and shook her head. "Again, you two really need to get your shit together."

Hope watched quietly from the background. Keeping her eyes on Josie, who was drowning herself in alcohol. Hope had stopped drinking after her first cup.

she was too worried about Josie to focus on anything else. Once Josie started to tumble over things, barely able to stand, that's when Hope stepped in. She couldn't watch anymore.

Hope slipped one arm around Josie's waist, wrapping Josie's arm around her neck. "What are... you doing?" Josie slurred.

"Taking you to your room. You need to sleep." Hope told the girl who she was now half carrying. 

Josie giggled as Hope continued her journey back to the school.

Hope got Josie up to her room as quickly and quietly as she could. She sat Josie on her bed and took off her shoes. Josie flopped back on her bed. 

Hope took the blankets from under Josie and carefully maneuvered them to cover up Josie. "Goodnight." Hope whispered before turning to leave the room.

"Smells like you." Josie mumbled before Hope could leave. 

Hope turned around. "What?"

Josie was mumbling and Hope couldn't hear her so she moved closer. "Blankets... my blankets. They smell. They smell like you."

Hope was glad that Josie couldn't see the blush creep up her face. "I.. uh."

"It's okay." Josie hiccupped. "Lizzie tell me you sleep here."

"Yeah." was all that Hope could say. She didn't know whether she should stay or leave. But somehow she found herself subconsciously gravitating towards Josie.

"Hey Hope?" Josie asked.

Hope moved next to Josie. "Yeah Jo?" 

"Will you stay... with me. It will help with sleep..."

Hope hesitated. "Um..."

"Please?"

"Okay Jo... I'll stay with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate all of the comments and kudos! I really hope that you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will try to get the next chapter up by this weekend. No promises though, I work a lot of doubles this week.


	9. Prophecy

(Josie POV) 

Josie wakes up the next morning with a brain splitting headache. She started to roll over, only then realizing she wasn't alone in her bed.

Memories from the night before rushed in. Josie groaned when she remembered what an idiot she had been the night before.

She realized that it was Hope asleep in her bed and wondered what she should do.

Should she wake Hope? Or just go back to sleep, sleep off her hangover?

Josie decided on the latter.

The next time Josie wakes up, it's to the sound of Hope and Lizzie whisper yelling at each other from across the room. Josie keeps her eyes shut and pretends to still be asleep.

"Maybe you could, I don't know, tell her how you feel." Lizzie whispered.

Her? Who is her? Does Hope have feelings for a girl?

"Maybe you could, I don't know, shut the fuck up." Hope shot back sarcastically.

Josie had to fight the violent urge to laugh when she heard her sister scoff from across the room.

"Rude." Lizzie shot back.

It was quiet for a moment, then Josie heard her sister moving around. "I'm going down stairs to get something to eat. Make good choices while I'm gone."

Josie heard the door open and shut. What now?

Hope started moving around. It was like she wanted to get up, but was afraid to wake up Josie.

Josie's mind wandered back to the 'her' that Lizzie and Hope had been talking about. Who was she? Did Josie know her? why had Hope never told her that she was into girls too? All of these questions raced through her mind. Hope moved again.

"Will you stop moving around!" Josie felt Hope's body tense up. Oh shit. Was that her outside voice? She had not meant to say that out loud.

"You're awake?" Hope shot up, sounding surprised.

Josie sat up slowly. "I'm sorry Hope."

"For what?" Hope asked.

"Getting drunk last night, making you take care of me. I was a disaster. But you were there. And that means a lot. So thank you."

"Jo, I think we need to talk."

(Hope POV)

Hope almost stopped breathing when she realized Josie was awake. How long has she been awake for? Had she heard the conversation with Lizzie?

Hope knew the two girls needed to talk. This was a long time coming.

The two girls sat in the bed facing each other. "Why did you break up with Landon?" Josie asked looking down.

Hope didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't that. She took a deep breath in and released it slowly before answering. "It was while you were still trapped in Malivore. I was a mess. I didn't understand how everyone could just forget about you like that."

"But you know what happens when someone falls into the pit..." Josie said.

"Yeah. Well I guess I didn't realize how much it would affect me when it was someone I cared about. I was a mess. And Landon shot back with some smart ass comment... it just set me off. We fought and it wasn't pretty. But then, when we needed his help, he was there. And we sat down, spoke like actual adults. And we came to the conclusion that we just didn't belong together." Hope explained without much detail.

"So that's it? You just decided that you didn't belong together? There was nothing else? No other reason?" Josie asked.

"Josie..."

"Hope..." Josie said sarcastically.

Hope rolled her eyes. "He said I had feelings for someone else." she confessed.

"And do you?"

Hope paused. She felt conflicted. One half of her was screaming at her to tell Josie how she felt. The other half of her was too worried that it would seem as if she were trying to take advantage of Josie.

"It's okay... you don't have to tell me if you're not comfortable." Josie spoke due to Hope's lack of answer. "I do have another question though?" she added.

"What's that?"

"Lizzie told me that you used the prism to talk to me while I was in Malivore..." Josie started.

"You want to know what we talked about?" 

Josie nodded.

Hope smirked. "Well... we argued mostly. You kept telling me I was hard headed, and stubborn. It was quite infuriating." 

Josie laughed. "That actually sounds pretty accurate. Your subconscious must know me really well... so what was it that we were arguing about?"

"You were trying to get me to admit to you the real reason I wanted to talk to you in the first place." Hope confessed quietly.

"Okay... and?"

Hope sighed. Real life Josie was just as bad as hologram Josie. "Landon was right." was all Hope said.

Josie had a confused look on her face. "What? What does that have to do with what you used the prism for?"

"He was right when he said that I had feelings for someone else..." 

Josie almost had a sad look on her face. "Is it... is it Rafael?" she asked, looking at anywhere but at Hope.

Hope couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth. "God, no!" she continued laughing.

Now Josie seemed a bit angry. "Why is that so funny? Stop laughing! I'm serious Hope!"

It took Hope a minute to catch her bearings. "Well, hologram Josie was a lot more insightful than you are, I can tell you that much."

"Hope..." Hope stopped laughing.

This was it. Hope was going to tell the other girl how she felt. "When you told me that you had had a crush on me, I was completely thrown for a loop. And when Landon went missing, you held me when I cried and told me that everything was going to be okay. But it wasn't okay. You were just gone... and nobody could remember you but me..." A tear fell from Hope's eye.

Josie grabbed her hand. "It's okay Hope. I'm here now. And you don't have to tell me anything if you're not ready."

"No. I want to. When I found out about your crush on me, and then you jumped into Malivore, everything suddenly began to make sense. Not at first, it took my subconscious version of you yelling at me, for me to finally admit it. I think that I've always felt this way. I just never saw it until you were gone..." Hope stopped.

"Hope?"

"I missed you. Every day. Every hour. Every minute. Every second you were gone. I was so scared that I would never see you again. Never see you smile, hear your laugh. I hadn't been that scared since.. since my parents..." Hope began to cry harder.

"Hope it's really okay if you're not ready to talk about..."

"Josie, when I thought that I would never see you again, I felt a piece of me die. I was sick at the thought of never seeing you again. At first I didn't understand why I felt like that. But hologram you finally made me admit to myself." Hope interrupted.

"Admit what?" Josie moved closer to Hope.

"I have... um. Well I feel..." Hope struggled to find the words. Josie was getting impossibly close and Hope was extremely distracted.

"Spit it out Mikaelson." Josie whispered.

"I have feelings for..." Josie cut Hope off with a kiss. A mind blowing, earth shattering, most amazing kiss Hope had ever experienced. She pulled away reluctantly. "You. Just to clarify. I have feelings for you." Hope state between breaths.

Josie laughed. "I kind of figured, dork." she said pulling Hope back in for another kiss. 

Somehow Josie ended up on top of Hope. And Hope couldn't help but pray that this moment never ended.

As if right on cue, "Guys you need to get up. We think we found... oh my god! My eyes! I thought I said to make good choices!" Lizzie came barging into the room.

"Lizzie what the hell?" Josie yelled without moving from her spot on top of Hope.

"Well mom called. The lead her and Penelope had, it may have checked out. Dad needs us in his office A.S.A.P." Lizzie said turning to face the two girls.

"Fine. We will be down in a second." Lizzie stood unmoving, a shit eating grin on her face. "Was there something else?" Josie asked sarcastically.

Lizzie shook her head. "No. Just... it's about time." she laughed.

"Get out!" Josie yelled as Hope buried her face.

Lizzie walked out of the room still laughing. Hope was so embarrassed. Her hands were still covering her face. "I can not believe that just happened." she said through her fingers.

Josie laughed and got off of the other girl. "Well.. at least it was only Lizzie. It could have been so much worse."

Hope rolled over and buried her head in Josie's pillow. As amazing as all this had been, Hope knew that it was time to get back to the real world. She sat up in the bed and turned to face Josie. "Jo..."

"Yeah?"

"What's going to happen now?" Hope asked.

"Well we're going to go to my dad's office and see what they've found, go from there." Josie replied.

"I meant with us..." Hope was almost afraid to hear the other girls answer.

Josie smiled. "Well..." she leaned down to kiss Hope. "I would very much like to keep doing that. Exclusively... that is, if you're okay with it?"

Hope couldn't fight the smile that came to her face. "I'd like that. Very much so."

Josie kissed Hope again. "Good." she grabbed Hope's hand. "So let's go see what they've found."

Hope squeezed Josie's hand as she stood up and followed Josie out of the room and to her fathers office.

When they got there Lizzie was sitting across from Dr. Saltzman. They seemed to be having a serious conversation. "Hi dad." Josie said when they walked in.

"Josette, Hope. I'm glad you two are here. Come sit." Dr. Saltzman said.

Josie went to go sit, taking Hope by the hand and bringing her with her. They both sat and looked at Dr. Saltzman at the same time. "So? What did they find?" Josie asked, ignoring the questioning look from her father.

"Well uh..." Dr. Saltzman cleared his throat. "From the way it sounds, there is some sort of prophecy that may or may not pertain to the Merge... and maybe Malivore. It just... well it doesn't seem to make any sense."

"Well what is it? Maybe we could help." Lizzie spoke.

"I have it written down somewhere here." He started shuffling through papers on his desk. "I wrote it down when your mother called. Ah.. here it is." he cleared his throat before speaking.

"Jesus dad, just spit it out." Lizzie said abruptly.

Everyone turned to look at her. Lizzie just shrugged her shoulders.

"When two become one, and one becomes three.  
Only then can the darkness they defeat.  
Two who were never meant to be born,  
miracles in their own right.  
When joined together one and the same,  
only they can destroy the night."

"Well that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever." Lizzie said.

"Two become one, that has to be the Merge right? And maybe the darkness is Malivore." Josie suggests.

"Josie could be right. But what does the rest of it mean? One becomes three? Two who aren't supposed to exist? There are more questions here than answers." Hope speaks up.

"I'm going to send this to as many people as I can. Dorian and Emma are already researching up. I just thought I would keep you updated on everything. Also, you three need to start attending your classes again. Grades are slipping ladies." Alaric told them.

"Seriously dad?"

"Seriously Lizzie. You should probably get going. Don't want to be late." He motioned towards the door.

The three girls stood and reluctantly left the office. Did Dr. Saltzman really expect them to be able to focus during classes with everything going on?

"So I'm going to go get dressed. You two should probably do the same." Lizzie winked before running off. 

Josie scoffed. "I hate to admit it, but she's right. We should go get ready for class. But I'll see you at lunch?"

Hope leaned in to kiss Josie. "Yes babe."

Josie made a face. "Did the great and powerful Hope Mikaelson just call me babe?" she teased.

Hope smiled as she rolled her eyes. "Get out of here dork, we're going to be late."

Josie laughed as she skipped off to her room. "See you later... babe."

Hope was going to have her hands full. She smiled and headed back towards her room. It didn't take long for Hope to get dressed and ready for class. She felt like she hadn't been in forever.

Hope tried to concentrate during her first few classes, she really did. But all she could think about was Josie, the prophecy and what it all really meant.

She was thankful when lunch rolled around. Hope made her way to the table where her friends were already waiting. Her friends. Hope smiled at the thought.

"Hope!" Josie's face lit up when she saw her. Hope's smile grew.

Once she was seated, everyone started talking about the prophecy Hope had spent all morning thinking about.

"Do you think that the darkness really is the curse on the Gemini Coven, or could it be Malivore?"

"And what the hell does one become three mean? Doesn't the merge only have to do with two becoming one?"

"None of this makes any sense."

Everyone started talking at once. It was a bit overwhelming.

Hope had come up with some ideas of her own. She was about to open her mouth to tell her friends what she thought, when Dr. Saltzman came running into the room. He looked worried and stressed, more than normal anyways.

Hope nudged Josie to get her attention, then motioned at the other girls father.

"Lizzie? Did something happen? Why does dad look like he is about to explode?" Josie asked her sister. 

All eyes turned to Dr. Saltzman.

"Um.. Attention everyone! ATTENTION!" he shouted

Lizzie stood. "Daddy? What's going on?"

"I need everyone's attention, and for everyone to remain calm." he started.

Hope felt Josie tense up next to her. "Do you know what's going on Hope?" she whispered.

Hope shook her head no.

"I'm putting the school on lockdown." Dr. Saltzman announced. The cafeteria erupted as Hope and the rest of her friends shared a look of concern with each other. 

Whatever this was... it was not good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to get up. But I have the rest of the story finished so the next few updates should come fairly quickly. I really hope you all enjoy this chapter. As always, thank you for reading!! Thank you for all of the comments and kudos, they mean the world to me!!


	10. Everything Has Changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! Two chapters in one day? I figured you deserved it after the long wait. As always, thank you for the comments and kudos. You are all amazing! I actually have the rest of this story finished, so the last few updates should come fairly quickly! Enjoy the bonus chapter!

(Josie POV) 

"Lockdown? Why?" Josie asked looking at Hope. 

The room was going crazy, everyone talking and shouting over each other. It was a mad house.

Josie grabbed Hope's hand and squeezed.

"Everyone! Everyone calm down! Let me explain. Mandatory meeting in the ballroom A.S.A.P. Emma is already preparing to evacuate the younger children, then everyone else. Now, everyone get moving! I'll explain everything then." Her father announced before taking his leave.

Everyone immediately headed towards the ballroom. Josie squeezed Hope's hand tighter, not realizing it.

"Babe?" Hope said getting her attention.

"We should go." Josie said. Whatever was going on, it was bad.

It was a madhouse in the ballroom as well. Everyone was talking over each other, all asking each other the same question Josie was asking herself. What the hell was going on?

Josie saw her father before he spoke. He was at the bottom of the stairs. If it was possible, he looked even more stressed out than he did before.

The room quieted when they all noticed that he was there.

Her father cleared his throat before speaking. "As many of you know, I have decided to put the school on lockdown. All of the younger students are being evacuated as we speak. I have sent out an email to all of your parents, explaining why we are evacuating and where we are evacuating to. There is a huge group of monsters outside of the school's gates. Now before you get worried, we have a barrier spell up around the school keeping the monsters out. However, we don't know for how long. I'm going to need all of you to go to your rooms and pack a small bag each. Then meet up out front, everyone is to be evacuated. And I do mean everyone. Thank you. That is all."

Josie watched her father walk up the stairs and head towards his office. No, there was something else going on. Josie hadn't seen her father like this in a long time. "We need to get to Dr. Saltzman's office... now!" Hope said what Josie was thinking.

The super squad made their way through the crowd of their peers and made their way quickly to Alaric's office.

Josie saw her father at his desk, head in his hands as they walked in.

He looked up when MG shut the door. "Of course you all would show up. Come in. Sit down."

"Daddy, what's going on.. I mean besides the school wide evacuation and the monsters at our gates?" Lizzie asked.

Her dad shook his head. "Dad!" Josie said forcefully.

"Landon called..."

"What?!" Rafael and Hope shouted at the same time.

"Well... unfortunately it wasn't our Landon. Malivore has taken over Landon's body. And he has kidnapped Penelope Park and your mother." he looks at the twins.

Josie felt her heart stop. Her mother. Penelope. Malivore had them in his grasp. Her eyes started to water. "This is all my fault." she ran out of the office.

Josie ran straight to her room, slammed her door shut, and fell into bed. This was crazy, and entirely her fault. Because of her, Malivore now had Penelope and her mother... and there was nothing she could do about it.

There was a knock on the door. "Go away Lizzie!" she shouted. Josie was not in the mood to deal with her sister. Not now.

Josie heard the door creak open. "Lizzie, I said not now." she turned to look at the door. But it wasn't her sister standing there, it was Hope.

Josie started to cry and Hope ran straight over and pulled her into her arms. Josie wrapped her arms around Hope and buried her face into Hope's neck.

"Hope, it's all my fault." she cried.

"Jo, this is in no way your fault. If anything, it's mine. I'm the one who killed Landon inside of Malivore, opening Landon up for Malivore to possess." Hope told her.

"No. I should have stayed there. I should have..." Josie couldn't stop the sobs.

Hope just held Josie tight, comforting her. Letting her get it all out.

After Josie had calmed down a bit, she pulled away from Hope and took a deep breath. "Did... did my dad say what Malivore wanted?" she asked.

"I ran out right after you did. I had to make sure that you were going to be okay." Hope told her.

Josie sighed. How was Hope this good to her. After everything, Hope was still here, by her side. "Why are you so good to me? I don't understand." she asks.

"Josie, you don't understand how important you are to me, do you? I have always cared for you, even if I didn't show it. And now..." Hope grabbed Josie's hand. "Now...I can't even imagine what I'd do if something happened to you. I would do everything in my power to make you feel safe and happy." 

Josie couldn't hide her smile. "Come on dork. We should probably go down and see what my father has to say about this whole messed up situation."

Josie followed Hope back down to her father's office.

"Jo are you okay?" Lizzie asked upon noticing her sister enter the room.

"Yeah Liz, I'm fine now." she turned to look at her father. "What does Malivore want? Why did he kidnap mom and Penelope?"

Her father cleared his throat. "well, first... he wants Hope."

"Surprise, surprise. Of course he does. It seems like that's all anyone wants. The all powerful Tribrid. Why can't all of the big bads just leave Hope the hell alon..."

"He wants you too..." her father interrupted her. "He wants the both of you two." he motioned between Lizzie and Josie.

That took Josie by surprise. "What? Why?"

"I have the same question." Hope spoke up.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because of the prophecy. I just, I don't know." Her father shook his head.

"Well then I think we should probably get back to researching this whole prophecy thing. It's the only way." Lizzie stated.

"We can figure this all out. We just have to work together." Josie replied.

"Well I'm assuming that this means that none of you are planning to evacuate with the rest of the students?" Alaric asked, already knowing the answer.

"Maybe the only way to defeat Malivore is to do the merge early?" Rafael suggested.

"NO!" both her father and Hope shouted at the same time.

Rafael threw his hands up in defense. "Okay, okay. Sorry, I was just throwing out ideas. It didn't sound like anyone else had anything."

"Well that's not going to happen. So you can get that idea right out of your head." Alaric practically shot daggers at the boy.

"Why don't we take a few seconds. Get your heads on straight, and work together to figure this out." Hope suggested.

Josie nodded. Everyone just needed to chill out for a minute. Things were getting tense.

"I have an idea." MG said quietly from where he had been standing the whole time.

Everyone turned to look at the boy. "What's that?" Lizzie asked.

"So obviously this prophecy has to do with the twins, we all know. But I think maybe it has to do with Hope too." he stated.

"Why do you think that?" Josie jumped to ask. How would Hope even fit into the prophecy?

"Well first, if Malivore wants all three of you, then Hope has to be involved somehow." MG started.

"That makes no sense. Again, I ask, what part of the prophecy could Hope even fit into? Two becomes one, equals me and Lizzie completing the merge. Not sure about the three thing. Me and Lizzie were never meant to be born. And the darkness and night stuff is obviously about Malivore." Josie could feel herself getting angry. She couldn't risk losing Hope, she wouldn't.

"What if it has nothing to do with both of you at all? What if we're wrong about the merge? Hope was never meant to be born either. And the three... Tribrid." MG defended his idea.

Josie opened her mouth to argue back, but before she could the sound of glass shattering on the ground stopped her.

Everyone turned to look at Hope, who had dropped one of Alaric's glass knickknacks. She dropped to the ground. "MG's right." she said.

Josie ran to the other girl and dropped to her side. "Baby... what do you mean?"

"I think... I think that it means that I have to turn one of you..."

(Hope POV)

She didn't want to believe it herself. But it made sense.

Dr. Saltzman was the first to argue back. "Oh absolutely not! There's no way in hell!" he practically yelled.

"Hope what do you mean? Why would you think that?" Josie asked quietly. She sounded confused and concerned at the same time.

"So, this is all just my thoughts on everything. But two becoming one, could be breaking the merge. One becoming three, is me turning one of the twins into a Tribrid... therefore breaking the merge. They would become a tribrid and remain a siphoner, hypothetically. Maybe with our combined powers, that's how we defeat Malivore." Hope said.

She turned to look at the twins, they both looked pretty freaked out. This was not what Hope had wanted to do.

"Hope, I just want to make this clear to you. There is no way in hell that you are turning one of my daughters into a Tribrid. We will find another way. There's always another way." Dr. Saltzman stated.

"Trust me Dr. Saltzman, I don't want this any more than you do. So if we can find another way, perfect. But if not, I really think that this could be our only option." Hope really didn't want to piss off Dr. Saltzman. But it seemed like that was exactly what she had done.

"You are not turning one of my daughters into a... into a..." 

"What? Into a what? A freak? Is that what you were going to say?" Now Hope was pissed. She knew Dr. Saltzman wouldn't be happy, but she didn't think that he would stoop this low.

"No. No, that's not what I was going to say at all."

"Then what? A monster? What?"

"Hope this is ridiculous. You know that I didn't mean it like that." 

"Then what do you mean?"

"Jesus! Stop!" Josie shouted above the two.

(Josie POV)

Josie had watched her father argue with Hope for long enough. Everyone else in the room just stood by awkwardly watching the scene in front of them unfold.

Well Josie wasn't going to do that. She yelled at them to stop. "I'll do it. I'll turn." she said surprising everyone.

"The hell you will!" her father yelled.

"Dad. This is the only way." Josie told her father. 

"Josette... what if it's wrong? What if you're wrong?" her father asked quietly.

"That's just a risk we're going to have to take." As soon as she said the last words. Hope stood up and took of out of the room.

Josie heard her mumble something as she took off, but couldn't quite make out what it was.

"Hope!" Lizzie shouted after her.

"No... I'll go." Josie stopped her sister and went to follow the other girl.

Josie found Hope in her room, pacing back and forth, mumbling to herself. "Hope?"

Hope turned quickly to face Josie. "You can't be serious..."

Josie was confused. "I thought that you said that this was the only way..."

"Yeah well it probably is. But that doesn't mean I want it to happen. You volunteered. And that scares the living hell out of me. You know that you have to die right?" Hope continued pacing.

Josie walked over to Hope and grabbed her hands. "Yes. I now that. You think that it doesn't scare the hell out of me? Because it does. But it might be the only way to save my mom..." 

"And Penelope?" Hope interrupted.

"Really? That's what we're doing right now?" Josie made a face.

Hope sighed. "No. I'm sorry. It's just... I'm freaked out. I mean I love you, and if we're wrong... I don't even know. I never want you to end up resenting me for changing you when it wasn't necessary." 

"Hope, I would never." Josie said.

"Yeah you say that now. But what if it doesn't work? Or we break up later on? Are you really sure that this is what you want? Because this... this is forever." Hope said.

Josie waited a moment before answering. She thought about everything. What it could mean. Hope was right, this was forever. She couldn't take this back.

"All things aside, I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Even if it means forever. So yes Hope, this is what I want. I've made my decision." she said confidently.

"Okay, as long as you're sure. Your father is not going to like this.. at all. He'll probably hate me forever." 

"Yeah I know, but he'll get over it. But it's also why we need to do this before he finds out." Josie said.

"Now?! Like right now?" Hope asked, unable to hide her surprise.

"Yes, before my dad finds out and tryst to stop us."

Josie could see that Hope was hesitant. This was a big thing.. for both of them. She walked over to kiss her girlfriend. "It's okay baby."

"I'm going to need something sharp... so I can draw some blood..." Hope told her.

Josie walked over to Hope's desk and grabbed a pair of scissors. Then she brought them back over to Hope. "Will these work?" she asked.

Hope took the scissors. "Yes. We are going to have to do this quickly because I heal so fast."

Hope took the scissors and made a deep cut on her wrist. Josie pulled Hope's wrist into her mouth and immediately started drinking.

The blood tasted weird in Josie's mouth. She almost gagged when she swallowed. "Okay baby... are you ready?"

"I... I don't..." Hope started to cry.

"It's okay Hope." Josie took Hope's hands and placed them on either side of her head. "It's okay. You can do this. Everything will be okay, I promise."

Josie closed her eyes as she felt Hope's hands tighten. She didn't even feel when Hope twisted and her neck snapped.

(Hope POV)

Hope fell to the ground with Josie, pulling the other girl into her lap. She knew that Josie would wake up. But right now, she was dead and Hope was heartbroken.

"Hey guys, dad is down there freaking out and... what the shit?" Lizzie came barging into the room.

"Lizzie I can explain..."

"No shit you better explain! Is she dead, what is going on?" Lizzie freaked out.

Before Hope could start talking, Josie shot up with a sharp intake of breath. "Shit!"

"Jo! Thank god you're okay!" Lizzie ran over to her sister.

"It's okay Lizzie. I'm okay." the twins hugged.

Hope stood back and let the sisters have their moment. She was half waiting for Lizzie to turn around and tear into her.

"So what now?" Lizzie turned around and asked.

"You're not going to yell at us?" Josie asked surprised.

"I'm a little annoyed that I was not involved in the decision making... But I understand. So what happens now?" Lizzie asked.

Hope cleared her throat. "Well now you would have to drink human blood finish the transition. After that we would test out your magic, see if you can still siphon and use your own magic."

"I know where mom keeps her stash of human blood for when she comes home. I'll go get some and be right back!" Lizzie ran out of the room quickly.

It was quiet, almost awkward after Lizzie left. "Are... are you okay?" Hope asked.

"I don't really know. It just feels like every emotion I've ever had is taking over my body and I'm not sure how to feel. I don't really now how to put it into words." Josie explained.

Before Hope could respond, Lizzie came running into the room. "Here. But you better hurry. Dad is looking for all of us. I heard him in the hall on my way back."

Hope watched Josie grab the blood bags from her sister. She hesitated, just long enough for Hope to notice.

"Baby, are you okay? Like, are you sure this is what you want?" Hope asked.

"Well it's a little late now." Lizzie mumbled under her breath.

"Lizzie!" Josie scolded her sister, who just threw her hands up in defense. Then she turned to look at Hope. "It's going to be okay. I promise. I love you."

"I love you too." Hope said.

Josie opened the blood bag and quickly consumed the contents.

Hope moved closer to her girlfriend, but before she could say anything the door swung open and Alaric entered. "There you three are! We really need to talk!"

"It's too late dad." Josie cut him off.

Hope's heart started racing. She was worried that Dr. Saltzman would lose his mind when he found out what they had done.

She feels both Lizzie and Josie's hands slip into hers.

Dr. Saltzman looked very confused. "What do you mean sweetheart?" a look of concern crossed his face.

Both Hope and Lizzie turned to look at Josie. She sighed and took a deep breath before answering her father. "Hope turned me."


	11. In My Veins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been so long. It has been a crazy last few months. I'll try to get the last couple of chapters up as soon as possible. As always, thank you so much for reading. I appreciate all of you!

"You did what?" Josie flinched as her father yelled.

Josie squeezed her girlfriends hand tightly. Her body felt like it was on fire. Her emotions were all over the place. Her dad continued yelling. Every second, Josie got one step closer to snapping.

"Enough!" Hope yelled, silencing the room. She must have noticed how Josie was feeling. "What's done is done Dr. Saltzman. There's nothing we can do to change that now. No amount of yelling is going to help the situation."

Josie heard her father sigh. "I have questions." he said. "First, is Josie a full tribrid now? Can she still use her magic?"

"First, 'she' is standing right here." Josie was annoyed at the way her father was talking about her like she wasn't even standing there. 

Her fathers voice softened. "I'm sorry sweetheart. This is just a lot to wrap my head around. I'm trying not to be angry... to try to be more understanding."

"I don't know if I can still use my magic. I haven't tried yet. I don't even know if I'm technically a triprid or a heretic or what. I don't know what I am." Josie turned to look at Hope.

"Just take a few deep breaths, clear your mind. Do whatever you would normally do when you're siphoning magic. Just do it to yourself." Hope coached.

Josie closed her eyes and did exactly what the other girl had told her to do. She could feel a warmth spreading out throughout her entire body.

"Holy shit, it's working!" Josie heard her sister exclaim.

Josie's eyes shot open. Lizzie was right. Josie watched as her hands turned red, she was siphoning magic from herself. She was creating her own magic! A smile came to her face. 

"Well, now we know you still have your magic. And that you're a vampire. When do we find out if you can wolf out, or whatever?" Lizzie asked.

"If she doesn't have the werewolf gene, then she shouldn't be able to turn." Alaric spoke.

"Yeah but maybe Hope's blood is different. I mean, she is the only tribrid. What if her blood can create werewolves too? We won't know for sure until the next full moon." Lizzie continued.

Josie shot her sister a look. 

"Well... the full moon is tonight." Hope said quietly.

"Tonight?" Josie questioned. The full moon was tonight? That was too soon! She didn't have enought time to prepare herself. Josie started to hyperventillate. She needed air. Now.

She turned to run outside. Before she even realized what was happening, Josie's vampire speen took over and she was outside.

It scared her. This was all so new and scary. And now she might have to deal with turning into a werewolf too. 

Josie stood at the edge of the woods, freaking out. Her new vampire emotions were really doing a number on her. Everything was spinning. It was all just too much.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Hope was there standing in front of her. "Hey... hey baby. It's okay. I know this is a lot and we don't even know for sure that you're going to become a werewolf. But no matter what happens, I'm here. I'm with you no matter what and I will help and support you through all of this."

Josie felt herself calming down. Everything was going to be okay. Josie was going to be okay. Maybe she wouldn't even change. Josie looked up and saw the moon beginning to rise.

A sharp, shooting pain spread all throughout Josie's body. She fell to her knees with a scream.

"Jo... it's okay. Night is coming, I guess this means that you're going to start transitioning soon. You're going to be okay. You can't fight the first transition... it's like a rite of passage. But after, you'll be able to control it..." Hope continued.

It was hard for Josie to concentrate. Her whole body was on fire. She couldn't breathe. This didn't feel right. "Hope... Hope, I think something's wrong."

"It's starting."

Josie felt a bone in her leg snap. She screamed as she fell completely to the ground. She hears Hope talking to her, but can't make it out over the sound of her own screams. Josie feels her bones start snapping inside of her body. The pain is nearly unbearable.

Through her screams, Josie hears Hope say something. "Don't fight it baby. It'll go by much faster if you don't fight it. Breathe the air into your lungs, feel the air around you. I know it's hard, but you can do this."

Josie closed her eyes and did as Hope guided her to do. She relaxed as much as her body would allow her to. There was one final burst of pain.. and then calm.

Josie looks up and sees Hope in front of her. She's smiling and crying at the same time. She opens her mouth to ask Hope why she was crying. But no words come out. Josie looked around, and that's when she realized... She was a wolf.

Hope shifted right in front of her, becoming a wolf herself. "Hi baby." Josie heard Hope's voice in her head. 

"We can hear each other?" Josie thought.

Again Hope's voice entered her head. "Yes baby. How do you feel?"

"Free." Josie loved the feeling. It was one of the most amazing feelings she had ever felt in her life.

"Do you want to go for a run?"

Josie took off running before she answered Hope. They ran for what felt like forever and Josie relished every moment of it. Before she knew it, they were back at the school, just on the edge of the woods where Josie had first turned.

"We're different Josie. We can turn at will. Just take a few deep breaths and concentrate. It will hurt at first, but after a while it becomes as easy as breathing."

Josie closed her eyes and did what Hope had instructed her to do. She felt her bones begin to snap again. But before she knew it, she was standing. No longer a wolf.

Hope stood before her, still a wolf. Josie beamed.

"Oh my god Josie! There you are! And holy crap, you're naked!" Lizzie covered her eyes.

Josie hadn't even realized it. She had been standing here in front of Hope this whole time... naked.

She attempted to cover herself. Hope must have understood because she turned around as well.

"Lizzie. Go to the school and get clothes for Hope and I. And please hurry." Josie told her sister.

Lizzie turned and did as she was told. Josie stood in the deafeningly awkward silence, waiting for her sister to get back.

"Here!" Lizzie said, tossing clothes to where Josie was standing. 

She dressed quickly and took the extra set of clothes into the woods for Hope to change into.

"What was it like?" Lizzie asked as they stood, waiting for Hope.

"It was scary at first. And extremely painful. I could feel every bone in my body breaking. But after I turned... running as a wolf... I don't even know how to describe it. It was..." 

"Amazing." Hope finished, walking out of the woods fully dressed.

Josie turned to look at the other girl. "Amazing doesn't even describe the half of it."

Hope smiled at her and Josie couldn't help but move over to her girlfriend and pull her into a searing kiss.

They only pulled away from each other when Lizzie cleared her throat... loudly.

"We should probably get back to the school. Make sure your father hasn't had a heart attack yet." Hope said reluctantly.

They turned to head back to the school. "So Hope, is it weird?" Lizzie asked.

Hope looked at Lizzie, confused look on her face. "Is what weird?"

"That Josie is technically a full Tribrid before you are?" Lizzie laughed playfully.

Josie hadn't even realized. She had actually forgotten that Hope hadn't transitioned into a vampire yet.

Apparently Hope had forgotten as well, because she stopped dead in her tracks. "Hope?" Josie quickly moved in front of her girlfriend.

"She's right." Hope whispered.

"I'm sorry Hope!" Lizzie quickly apologized. "I didn't mean to upset you."

"No. It's okay. You're right." Hope turned to look at Josie. She grabbed her girlfriends hands. "You're going to have to kill me."

Josie took a step back. She knew that Hope had literally just done the same only hours prior, but Josie really didn't know how to feel about this. "I..."

Hope immediately squeezed Josie's hands. "Hey... baby look at me." Josie looked up into Hope's beautiful blue eyes. "We already know that I'll be okay. And I know you can do this. I love you so much, you are so strong, and we can get through this together."

"Ugh god. You guys are like so cute, it's actually kind of disgusting." Lizzie interrupted.

Josie shot a dirty look at her sister before turning back to look at Hope. "Okay... Let's just get this over please."

Hope took Josie's hands and slowly guided them to her face.

Josie saw as Hope nodded to her that it was okay. She closed her eyes and used her vamp powers to swiftly snap her girlfriend neck.

Last thing she heard was the sound of Hope's lifeless body, hitting the ground.

(HOPE POV)

When Hope wakes up, she's in Dr. Saltzman's office.

Josie is by her side, just holding a blood bag, foot tapping rapidly.

"Hey baby." Hope whispered.

Josie jumped at the sound of Hope's voice and immediately handed her the blood bag.

Hope took it from her girlfriend and drank it quickly.

"Hope!" the sound of Dr. Saltzman's voice grabbed her attention. "I'm glad you're awake. The monsters are getting closer to breaking the magical barrier to get onto the school grounds."

Hope shot up. "What do we do?"

"Emma got the last of the students evacuated... with the exception of your very stubborn friends. And I honestly just feel like I'm in way over my head right now." Dr. Saltzman replied.

"Why can't we just bring the fight to Malivore? I mean, we do have the two Tribrids now and everything." Lizzie suggested from across the room.

"We're not even one hundred percent sure that any of this is going to work. We don't know for sure about the prophesy or any of it. We know nothing." Dr. Saltzman was spiraling. Hope knew it.

"I think Lizzie's right." Hope said. "We could take Malivore by surprise. He doesn't know about Josie becoming a Tribrid, or me for that matter."

"You think that will work?" Josie asked.

"It's the only plan we've got." Hope replied.

"Surprising Malivore isn't exactly a plan..." Dr. Saltzman said.

"Okay well the only way to defeat Malivore is with Tribrid blood. Maybe we can trick him into biting us? Or injecting our blood into him?" Josie suggested.

"How?" Dr. Saltzman asked.

"What if Landon is still in there somehow? Maybe you could draw him out Hope, convince him to help?" Lizzie spoke, surprising everyone again.

"How do we know if he's even still in there?" Dr. Saltzman asked doubtfully.

Hope was beginning to get annoyed with his negativity. "Well what other ideas to you have? You'v literally done nothing but shut all of us down. If you're not going to help, then shut up and get out because I am sick of the negativity." she spat angrily.

The room got deathly silent.

"I'm sorry." he said quietly. "It's just that there is and has been so much going on... and it's all been out of my control. To be honest, I'm terrified... for all three of you. I feel as if I have lost all control and I have no idea what I'm doing anymore. But you're right... So whatever plan you come up with, you have my support." he explained himself.

Hope felt bad for snapping on Dr. Saltzman the way she had. She knew none of this was his fault and he was just doing his best under the circumstances.

"So we have the plan for after we get to Malivore.. but how are we actually planning on getting to him?" Lizzie asked.

"Shit. I hadn't actually thought about that." Hope replied.

"I actually have an idea for that." Dr. Saltzman spoke. Hope nodded at him to continue. "Well, first we need to get the others and bring them in here. Then the twins need to siphon he magic from the barrier spell keeping the monsters out. Once they try to attack, we tell them we want to surrender. They'll take us straight to Malivore." he suggested.

"That's... that's actually not too bad of an idea. I think it might actually work." Hope said.

"I'll go grab the others." Josie said

"I'll come with you." Lizzie added, leaving Hope alone with Dr. Saltzman.

"Are you okay Hope?" Dr. Saltzman asked.

"I'm nervous. But what other choice do we have?" she replied.

"Unfortunately, I don't think that we have one."

The others made their was back to the office quickly.

"We need to go to the front gates so Lizzie and I can siphon the barrier spell." Josie stated.

Josie held Hope's hand all the way to the gate, only letting go when itwas time for her and Lizzie to siphon the spell.

Hope took a deep breath as she watched her girlfriend and her twin siphon the spell.

When they were finished, the gates opened and the monsters decended on them.

They looked ready to attack, but before they could, Hope shouted. "Stop! We want to surrender." she threw her hands in the air.

One of the monsters mumbled something and the world around her went black.


	12. Don't Let Them Win

(HOPE POV)

When Hope wakes up, she's in cage, everyone is still with her. She has no idea where they are or how they got there.

Hope sees Penelope and Caroline sitting among the rest of the group.

She feels fingers run through her hair and looks up to see her girlfriend smiling down at her. "You're awake." she said softly.

Hope sits up. "Where are we?" she asks.

Josie slips her hand into Hope's. "Nobody really knows where we are. None of us can even remember how we got here."

Hope sees Caroline give the two girls a funny look. "Uh, what is that..." she motions between Hope and Josie. "All about?"

Hope begins to speak, but Lizzie interjects. "Oh, Hope and Josie are a thing now. You really need to catch up mom."

Both Josie and Hope shoot a dirty look at the blonde Saltzman twin, who just shrugs her shoulders and sits back down. Caroline's mouth drops open.

Hope speaks before anyone else can step in. "I feel like we should probably talk about this later. Now doesn't exactly feel like it's the right moment. Right now, we need to figure our how to get to Malivore."

As if on cue, Malivore/Landon walks up to the cage that they're all being kept in.

(JOSIE POV)

Hope moved in front of Josie when Malivore opened the gate.

He grabbed Hope and began to drag her out of the cage.

Anger flooded Josie. She stepped forward ready to attack. The only reason she stopped was because she saw Hope shake her head no.

Josie knew that she had to stick to the plan, as much as it killed her. She had to jsut sit back and watch as Malivore dragged Hope away and out of sight, leaving everyone still locked in the cage.

She turned and faced the rest of the group, eyes glowing yellow with rage.

"Okay, what the hell is going on? Somebody better start explaining... now!" her mother sounded freaked out.

Everyone looked to Josie to explain things to her mother.

She took a deep breath before starting. She knew that her mother was about to flip. "Mom... I have to tell you something..."

"Obviously." Lizzie muttered under her breath.

Josie shot a look at her sister before turning back to her mother. "Okay so don't freak out, but Hope turned me into a Tribrid and we have a plan to defeat Malvore once and for all." she explained the short story version.

Caroline's mouth dropped open, clearly in shock.

"Mom?" Josie questioned.

"What in the world possessed you to do this? Like why? And you!" her mom turned to face her father. "How could you let this happen Ric? What came over you that you thought that this would be okay?" she snapped.

"Mom!" Josie yelled. "This had nothing to do with dad! I made this decision. He didn't even know until after it was already done. And he was just as upset as you are. So don't blame him!"

Her mother looked disappointed. "Why would you do this?" she asked.

"The prophesy..." Josie started.

"You did this because of the prophesy? That's it? That's your excuse? That's your reason?" her mother interrupted.

"No!" Josie yelled back.

"What other reason could you possibly have then?" her mother asked.

Josie went quiet. She didn't know what to say. Her mother never took her eyes off of her, waiting for an answer.

"She's in love with Hope." Penelope said quietly from where she had been standing. All eyes turned to her.

Josie didn't know what to say to that. Penelope wasn't wrong.

Her mother turned back to look at her, Josie waited for her to start yelling at her again. "Okay..." she sighed. "So what's the plan?" she asked, surprising Josie.

Josie immediately started explaining the plan to her mother and Penelope, who were the only two had no idea what was going on.

Before they could make their escape, Josie turned to her sister and pulled her aside. "What's going on Jo?" Lizzie asked.

"I think I have an idea that may be able to save Landon, but I need your help..." josie whispred to her sister.

Lizzie smiled. "I'm all ears."

(HOPE POV)

Hope struggled as Malivore dragged her down a hallway and to a huge empty room.

She remembered the plan and began to call for Landon. "Landon please! I know you're in there. You have to fight him Landon!"

She had to try to save Landon, after everything he had done. If there was even a one percent chance that she could save Landon, she had to try.

And hopefully Josie and the team were already on their way.

Again, as if on que, everyone came running into the room.

Hope saw a look of surprise cross Malivore's face. She took advantage and started calling for Landon again. "Fight him Landon! Figh..."

Malivore grabbed Hope by the throat to shut her up. Hope heard Josie scream, and tried to shake her head hoping that her girlfriend saw it and would wait.

Malivore still didn't know about Josie, and they couldn't let him know. Not yet.

"Landon's gone. You're wasting what little breath you have left." Malivore smirked.

It was getting harder for Hope to breathe. She was close to passing out. She could feel it. But she had to try, one more time. This was their only Hope. (No pun intended.)

"Landon... please..." she gasped with what little air she had left.

Hope felt Malivore's grip on her loosen, and she dropped to the ground.

"Hope?" Malivore questioned.

No. Not Malivore. It was Landon. He was fighting. "Landon..." she smiled.

"Hope... your blood. It's the only way to destroy him." landon struggled.

Hope remembered the plan and stood up. "Bite me."

Landon took a step back. "What? Why?" he actually sounded like the old Landon and Hope had to fight the urge to laugh.

"It's the quickest way for you to ingest my blood you idiot." she told him.

Landon seemed to understand now. He grabbed Hope's outstretched arm and bit into her wrist. He started drinking slowly. Then a bit faster.

Hope fell to her knees. "Landon... stop." she said.

But when Hope looked into Landon's eyes, she only saw Malivore. He was trying to drain her, to kill her. If he was going to die, he was going to take Hope with him.

"Now..." Hope said, barely above a whisper. 

Josie immediately lunged towards Malivore, who dropped Hope to the ground and braced for the attack.

Hope knew he was weak because of her blood and prayed Josie could get him to injest her blood as well... finish him off for good.

From the ground Hope saw Josie run up to Malivore and grab his arm, siphoning magic. 

That wasn't a part of their plan.

Hope tried to get up to help.. to figure out what was going on. But she was too weak.

While siphoning, Hope saw Josie bite her own wrist and shove it into Malivore's mouth. Then she called for Lizzie, who ran over to Malivore and started siphoning from him as well.

Malivore dropped to his knees. He had ingested the blood of the two Tribrids. This was it, Malivore should be destroyed.

Why were the twins still siphoning from him then?

What was going on?

As much as Hope wanted to get up, see what was going on, and why... she couldn't. She was too weak. She had lost too much blood. 

Hope didn't see what happened next.

She couldn't.

All she felt was cold.

And all she saw was black.


	13. Epilogue: 2 Months Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay everyone, this is it. Thank you all so much for reading. I really hope that you all enjoyed this story! All of your comments and kudos mean a lot! I have a couple of ideas running through my head, so hopefully I'll have a new story up soon! Thank you all! Enjoy the last chapter and thank you for going on thi journey with me!

(HOPE POV)

Two months. It had been two months since they had defeated Malivore. 

Hope was in her room, putting on her gown. Today was her graduation day. After everything that had happened, Hope had never thought that this day would come.

She was genuinely shocked when Dr. Saltzman had brought her her cap and gown and told her that she would be graduating.

Hope thought back to everything that had happened over the last few months. Losing Landon, losing Josie, then losing Landon again. And finally defeating Malivore once and for all. It was so crazy for Hope to think about. 

There was a knock on Hope's door. "Come in." she called thinking it was her girlfriend.

Her girlfriend. The last two months with Josie had been the best two months of her life. She was feeling things she'd never thought she would feel again after losing her parents. Love... hope... happiness.

"Hey slowpoke. You better get a move on or you'll be late to your own graduation." Hope turned to the source of the voice coming from the doorway.

"Shut up Landon. It's your graduation too loser." she laughed.

Hope learned shortly after waking up that Josie had come up with her own plan to save Landon.

After forcing Malivore to consume her blood as well, Josie and Lizzie began siphoning the magic from him. Hoping that between the two of them, they could strip the magic from him. Leaving only Landon.

It worked, however they had no idea whether or not Landon was still a Pheonix. They had decided to not test it out, on the off chance that Landon had become mortal.

"We should get going. We're both late." Landon laughed.

Hope followed Landon out of the room and down to the auditorium. Everyone else was already standing in rows, ready to walk in.

Landon hurried to his spot at the front of the line.

Hope moved towards her spot when she felt a hand grip her wrist and pull her off to the side. Just out of view from everyone else.

She turned to look Josie in the eyes. "Hi baby." she said.

"Josie... you look... stunning." Hope looked her girlfriend up and down.

Josie blushed. "I'm so proud of you baby." she said with a smile.

"God, I love you so much. I will never understand how I got so lucky." Hope leaned forward to kiss her girlfriend. Who eagerly kissed back.

Josie pulled back after a moment. "Promise me you'll never leave me?"

"I will never leave you. Ever. You really don't understand what you mean to me do you?" Hope replied.

Josie looked down. Hope moved her hand to Josie's chin and slowly lifted her head until their eyes met. "You are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I never thought that I could feel this way. I will love you until the end of time. Always.... and forever."

Tears came to both girls' eyes. Josie initiated the next kiss. It was slower than the last one. Almost like a silent promise to each other. 

They were so caught up in each other that neither of them heard Dr. Saltzman calling Hope's name from inside of the auditorium. "Hope Andrea Mikaelson."

Neither of the girls heard the second or third times Alaric called her name as well.

"HOPE MIKAELSON!" Alaric called louder.

Still nothing.

"Hey could you maybe pull your tongues out of each others mouths for two seconds. Dad has called your name four times already." Lizzie interrupted.

"Shit!" Hope said turning to run into the auditorium. She heard Josie laughing behind her. 

She couldn't believe she was late to her own graduation.

Hope was extremely embarassed as she practically ran across the stage to get her diploma. Her whole family in the crowd, cheering her name. "Seriously Hope?" Dr. Saltzman whispered as Hope shook his hand.

"I'm sorry." she whispered back.

Hope looked ot at the crowd. Lizzie and Josie were standing with her family, hooting and hollering. Hope couldn't help but smile.

As Dr. Saltzman handed Hope her diploma, he leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "I am so incredibly proud of you." Hope had to fight back the tears.

On her way back to her seat, Hope couldn't help but miss her mother and father. She wished they could be here to see this moment. She'd like to think they would have been proud of her too.

Once the last diploma was handed out and everyone was seated, Dr. Saltzman took the microphone.

Hope sort of zoned out during the first part of his speech.

He talked about the last year and everything that happened. The things they had been through and how they had overcome all of the different trials and tribulations they had been through.

"And that brings me to my final, surprise announcement." That got Hope's attention.

She already knew what it was about, but Dr. Saltzman had asked her to keep it a secret, and she had. Even from Josie and all of her friends.

"Starting next year, we have decided to start teaching offensive magic and fight training for those of you that are interested. And on that note.." Dr. Saltzman continued before the audience could react. "Congradulations to the graduating class of 2030!"

All of the graduates threw their caps in the air, cheering.

Hope searched the crowd, seeing a lot of confused and excited faces. Hope smiled.

After the craziness of graduation, Hope's family, the Saltzman's (Plus Caroline, MG, Rafael, and Kaleb, gathered together for a celebratory graduation dinner for Hope and Landon.

Hope was beyond happy. These people were her family, all of them.

Everyone was laughing and talking when Lizzie loudly cleared her throat. Very dramatically. Once she had everyones attention, she spoke. "Okay so I know I'm not the only one who remembers dad dropping the huge bomb at graduation right?" she asked.

All eyes turned to Dr. Saltzman and Caroline.

"No. We all heard it too." MG said next. 

"So... who's going to be teaching us then?" Lizzie asked.

"That's a good question Liz. Neither of you are witches..." Josie motioned between her parents. "...and no offense dad, but you're not exactly invincible." she added.

Hope grabbed and squeezed Josie's hand under the table.

All eyes were on Alaric and Caroline again, with the exception of Josie's... who were on Hope.

Dr. Saltzman sighed. "Well, I was going to wait to tell everyone, but I'm going to go ahead andsay that it's safe to assume that none of you are going to let that happen..." he stopped for a second and looked at Hope. "...well, do you want to tell them, or should I?"

Now everyone was confused. They were all wondering why Alaric was asking Hope if she wanted to tell everyone.

it was Josie who finally caught on. "Oh holy crap.. It's you!" she said.

Hope smiled in response.

Everyone turns, congradulating Hope.

Dr. Saltzman had offered Hope the position two weeks after they had defeated Malivore, but he made Hope promise not to say anything until he had had a chance to make the announcement.

Everyone seemed excited and that made Hope feel happy.

The rest of dinner was full of laughs and good conversation. Hope looked around at her friends and family and she had never felt so lucky.

After dinner was over Hope said her goodbyes to her family. She was going down to New Orleans for a couple of weeks after she got everything situated here and the Salvatore school.

When her family was gone, Hope made her way back to her room.

Josie was already there waiting.

"Hi baby." Hope said shutting the door. She walked over and kissed her girlfriend.

"Why didn't you tell me that my dad offered you a position here?" Josie asked.

"We wanted it to be a surprise. Did it work?" Hope asked playfully.

Josie laughed. "It was the best surprise." she kissed Hope.

"God I never thought I could be this happy. I never really thought that I deserved it. And then you came along. And I still don't think that I deserve you..."

"Oh Hope, you deserve every bit of happiness that this world has to offer... and more." Josie softly touched Hope's cheek.

Hope tried and failed to fight her tears.

"I will spend the rest of time making sure you know how much happiness you deserve. I will always love you and I will always be by your side." Josie added.

"You promise?" Hope asked.

"I promise. Always and Forever." Josie smiled.

"Always.... and Forever." Hope smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. Please, let me know what you think!  
> Next chapter, the twins find out about the merge and the super squad try to figure out where Landon is and how to get him back.   
> Thank you so much for reading!!!


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